Salutation
... in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Amen. Through the prayers of our
holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen. Glory
to You, our God, Glory to You.
O Heavenly King: Prayer to the Holy
Ghost
O
Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, You are everywhere and fill
all things, Treasury of blessings, and Giver of life: come and abide in us, and
cleanse us from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.
A Psalm of David.
Lord, I cry to You. Make haste to [help] me. Give ear to my
voice, when I cry to You. Let my prayer
be set forth before You [as] incense;
the lifting up of my hands [as] the
evening sacrifice.
Set a watch, Lord, before my
mouth. Keep the door of my lips. Incline not my heart to [any] evil thing, to practice wicked works with men that work
iniquity. Let me not eat of their
dainties.
Let the righteous smite me. [It is]
kindness. Let him reprove me. [It is]
excellent oil, [that] shall not break
my head: for yet my prayer also [is]
in the calamities [of the wicked]. When their judges are overthrown in stony places,
they shall hear my words: for they are sweet.
Our bones are scattered at the grave’s
mouth, as when one cuts and chops in the dirt.
My eyes [are] on You, O God the Lord. In You is my
trust. Leave not my soul destitute. Keep me from the snares they have laid for
me, the traps of the workers of iniquity.
Let the wicked fall in their own nets, while
I escape as well.
________
If you have been
blessed or helped by any of these meditations in Psalms, please repost or share
all of them.
[1]
This Psalm could fit against the backdrop of David’s flight, from either Saul
or Absalom: but I think it fits best against Absalom. David writes, “their judges
are overthrown in stony places.” This
fits against his instruction to Hushai, “defeat the counsel of Ahithophel.” (2 Samuel 15:34; 17:14) In this context, David makes some amazing and
profound observations and requests.
He asks that his prayer be accepted by God
just as if he were standing beside the high priest at the time of the evening
sacrifice in Jerusalem, on Zion, in the presence of God’s Glory. That is how we also pray, secretly in our prayer
closets.
He realizes what James will later proclaim,
the tongue cannot be controlled by man.
So David asks that his prayer, and his life that flows from prayer, may
not be defiled by sins of the tongue or thoughts of the heart. Where does such speech and thought come
from? Largely because we feel compelled
to answer the wicked, or imitate them.
David knows that many counselors are
available to tell him what he wants to hear.
He prays instead for counselors who will tell him the truth, even if it
is a slap in the face. Truth is what he
must follow, no matter the cost. Truth
must prevail. Truth is the only thing
that can save his sorry hide from this predicament.
Now David evaluates his danger. He is on the brink of being made like the
wood chips scattered on the ground, chips that fell from a woodsman’s axe. That is what David’s bones will look like if
Absalom catches him, so he prays accordingly.
What an amazing evaluation of life’s true condition. It is only God’s protection that keeps us
from Satan’s clutches.
David closes by praying, not for his own
brand of justice, but for God’s brand of justice. God’s punishment is always appropriate. It almost always involves some form of
forcing sinners to live with the consequences of their own ambushes, nets, plots,
and traps, while the innocent victims are allowed to escape from the impending
danger. “Live by the sword; die by the
sword”: which is to say, set an ambush to murder and rob a victim with swords,
and God’s idea of justice is that your ambush will fail, and you will be
murdered and robbed by ambush. Hmmm…. I wonder how many of our business plans are
really plots to ambush, deceive, and defraud others.
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