Psalm 142
“O Lord, I call upon you; hasten to me. Give ear to my voice when I call to you! Let
my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice! Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips! Do not let my heart incline to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds in company with men who work iniquity and let me not eat of their delicacies! Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness; let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head; let my head not refuse it. Yet my prayer is continually against their evil deeds. When their judges are thrown over the cliff, then they shall hear my words, for they are pleasant.
As when one plows and breaks up the earth, so shall our bones be scattered at the mouth of Sheol. But my eyes are toward you, O God, my Lord; in you I seek refuge; leave me not defenseless! Keep me from the trap that they have laid for me and from the snares of evildoers! Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by safely.”
As when one plows and breaks up the earth, so shall our bones be scattered at the mouth of Sheol. But my eyes are toward you, O God, my Lord; in you I seek refuge; leave me not defenseless! Keep me from the trap that they have laid for me and from the snares of evildoers! Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by safely.”
Reflecting on my life, I often see the enemy and it is I, and I’ve seen a pattern of my messed-up life calling God to hasten to me and solve the latest problem, I’ve got myself into. When the Psalmist wrote these words, it was the custom to offer incense for both the morning and evening hour. In Paul’s letters to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae we find this instruction in Chapter 4:2-6. “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” For you and I this is more inline with learning our ABC’s, it is basic, the foundation, if you want to read and write the English language. Having an attitude of prayer is not as difficult as many think it is. Such as being in a prayer room on your knees, but as you go about living life being grateful and watchful with the door of your heart open to the voice of God’s Holy Spirit. Praying for all who are over you in authority, and especially your pastor and mentors.
It is clear that just as the ABC’s are key to learning the English language, prayer is the door for living life on Planet Earth, in victory over the evil one. It is going to take prayer and the desire to die to your fleshly desires, in my case, I am wanting you to think more highly of me than God and I know to be true. Learning to have a mentality of prayer and asking Jesus as I am doing to live out in me, and that’s going to require a mindset of; only Jesus Christ has ever lived the Christian life, and I need Him to do so in me.
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
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