Slices
Prepare
Engage one of your senses as you pray today. Perhaps you may like to listen to music, look at a picture or hold something in your hand.
Bible passage
A psalm of David.
1 I call to you, Lord, come quickly to me;
hear me when I call to you.
2 May my prayer be set before you like incense;
may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.
3 Set a guard over my mouth, Lord;
keep watch over the door of my lips.
4 Do not let my heart be drawn to what is evil
so that I take part in wicked deeds
along with those who are evildoers;
do not let me eat their delicacies.
5 Let a righteous man strike me – that is a kindness;
let him rebuke me – that is oil on my head.
My head will not refuse it,
for my prayer will still be against the deeds of evildoers.
6 Their rulers will be thrown down from the cliffs,
and the wicked will learn that my words were well spoken.
7 They will say, ‘As one ploughs and breaks up the earth,
so our bones have been scattered at the mouth of the grave.’
8 But my eyes are fixed on you, Sovereign Lord;
in you I take refuge – do not give me over to death.
9 Keep me safe from the traps set by evildoers,
from the snares they have laid for me.
10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets,
while I pass by in safety.
Explore
This psalm describes an experience common to us all. David is surrounded by ungodly men who are inviting him to join them in evil, and David is struggling with temptation. We know from the Old Testament histories that David did not always find temptation easy to resist. He prays that God will protect his mouth and his heart, and even that a righteous man might strike him in order to teach him wisdom. David seems torn between the ‘delicacies’ that the wicked offer him (v 4) and their ultimate destruction, vividly described in verses 6 and 7.
The beauty of the psalm lies particularly in the first two verses. David pictures the evening sacrifice when the priest would burn costly incense, making holy the offering. As the smoke ascended and the smell pervaded the sanctuary, so worshippers would imagine their prayers rising towards God. David is imaginatively joining his prayers to the sacrifice, asking God to hear him and save him.
We might protest that David is putting the responsibility for making the right choice in God’s hands, rather than his own, but Jesus also taught us to pray, ‘lead us not into temptation’ (see v 4). This psalm is a good one to pray when we doubt that our resolution will hold.
Respond
Pray the Lord’s Prayer, focusing particularly on any area of temptation that you would like to be delivered from.
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: 2 Chronicles 13–15; Ephesians 2
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray for the schools’ ministry of SU in Papua New Guinea including their regular feeding programme, helping to draw in children who might normally miss school.