But Lord, my eyes are toward You.
[Psalms 141]
What do you do when you face with challenge in your life? What do you do when it's too hard for you to handle that challenge no matter what you do? I remember the words of Psalm 62:1, 5 that I meditated on at the morning prayer meeting last week: “My soul waits in silence for God only; From Him is my salvation. … My soul, wait in silence for God only, For my hope is from Him.” How can we silently look to God when we face with difficulties? The reason is because “In quietness and trust is your strength” (Isa. 30:15). Why should we silently trust in God in our troubles? The reason is because our salvation comes only from the Lord (Ps. 62:1, 5).
In Psalms 141:7, 9, 10, we can see that the psalmist David was in difficulties because of his wicked enemies. Not only David was in difficulties by his enemies, but also his companions were violated by David’s enemies as well (v. 7, Park). Those wicked enemies tried to kill David (v. 7) somehow by laying snares, traps, and nets (vv. 9-10). What did David do in the face of these difficulties? I would like to learn five lessons from Psalms 141:
First, David’s eyes were fixed on the Lord.
Look at Psalms 141:8 – “But my eyes are fixed on you, O Sovereign LORD; in you I take refuge--do not give me over to death.” In such a difficult situation, David confessed, “But my eyes are fixed on you, O Sovereign Lord ….” This refers to the expectation of God's help (Park). Since it is miracle to look to God instead of being discouraged in suffering, how can it not be done as we believe (Park). That's right. It is miracle that we aren’t discouraged during our hardships and are looking at the Lord who can deliver and help us in difficult situations instead of looking at our difficult situations.
When I thought about David's eyes that were fixed on the Lord, I remembered the words of Hebrews 12:2 – “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith ….” When we are in adversity and trouble, our gaze should be fixed on the Lord, who is the author and perfecter of our faith. Never should we complain like the Israelites who were in front of the Red Sea at the time of the Exodus who complained and grumbled in fear while looking at the Red Sea and the Egyptian army that followed. Like Moses, we must raise our eyes and look up to the Lord. We must lift our eyes and look to God who made heaven and earth (Ps. 121:1.2).
Second, David’s hands was lifted up to the Lord.
Look at Psalms 141:2 – “May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.” When David was in trouble, his eyes turned to the Lord and his hands were lifted to Him. Here, the saying that David's hands were lifted up to the Lord means that David prayed earnestly to God while offering his heart to God in trouble (Park). We can take see how earnestly David prayed to God while offering his heart in verse 1: “O LORD, I call to you; come quickly to me. Hear my voice when I call to you.” Looking at this prayer of David, we can see that when we see the word “quickly,” his prayer is making urgent demands to God. It was the urgent situation. In one word, David's prayer was prayed in longing for God's urgent salvation. So he prayed to God, “do not give me over to death” (v. 8). He prayed for God’s protection (v. 9), for the judgment of the wicked, and “I pass by in safety” (v. 10). David, who offered this urgent prayer to God, prayed while offering his heart to Him. And he decided to pray “still” (v. 5). And he wanted God to receive such prayers as joyfully as a sacrifice like an evening sacrifice (Park).
What is a prayer that is like an evening sacrifice that God is pleased to receive? I remember Psalms 51:17 – “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” Prayers like the evening sacrifices that our God gladly receives are prayers offered to God with a broken and a contrite heart. God is pleased with the prayers offered with conviction, confession and repentance of sin. God is pleased with the prayer that is offered with a clean and pure heart.
Third, David’s heart didn’t incline to any evil thing.
Look at Psalms 141:4 – “Do not incline my heart to any evil thing, To practice deeds of wickedness With men who do iniquity; And do not let me eat of their delicacies.” When we face difficulties and when we don’t turn our eyes to the Lord and pray, the spiritual resistance of our hearts is lost, and it is easy for us to fall into Satan's temptation and sin against God. Eventually, if our eyes and hands aren’t turned to the Lord, we become spiritually vulnerable and it is easy for our hearts to be leaned toward evil (sinful things). Dr. Park said: ‘Human beings are easy to assimilate with evildoers by changing the integrity of their faith in difficult times. Therefore, in those times, we must make up our minds and pray that it may not happen. Even if we die, we must not join in the ways of such ones’ (Park). I think it's one of the two. In other words, whether we give glory to God by becoming more spiritually trained in the midst of difficulties, or whether we are spiritually vulnerable and sin against God. Either we become stronger spiritually through the path of suffering and live a holy life that is more and more separated from the world and sin, or we are weakened spiritually in the path of suffering and live in harmony with the world and sin, assimilation with the evildoers and lead a worse life than the unbelievers. I think it is one of the two. Somehow, at least on the surface, I worry that we Christians are living worse lives than unbelievers. What is the cause? This is because our hearts become vulnerable amidst difficulties and adversities, and are inclined to evil things. What should we believers do?
In Psalms 141, David turned his eyes to the Lord, his hand was lifted to Him. Also, he made a decision and prayed to God so that his heart would not inclined to wicked things and committed sin. Even though the food that the wicked eats may seem like “their delicacies” , David’s eyes were only directed to the Lord, and his heart wasn’t overcome by the temptation of the lust of the eyes. In addition, his hands were pursuing cleanliness and purity while praying to God, so he could not participate in the evildoers of those who do evil. Like David, even though there are many temptations in the midst of difficulties, we must focus our gaze on the Lord, raise our hands to the Lord, and devote ourselves to prayer, so that we can guard our hearts.
Fourth, David set a guard over his mouth.
Look at Psalms 141:3 – “Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips.” We need to spare our words when we are in distress, in pain and adversity. The reason is because there is a lot of danger of sinning against God with our lips in pain and adversity. Especially when we are spiritually vulnerable, we need to spare our words more and more. Indeed, in the work of Satan, Satan makes us fix our gaze in difficult situations of suffering, prevents us from praying, and also makes our hearts lean towards sinful things. In the midst of that, Satan makes our lips sin before God. For example, the words of Job's wife in Job 2:9 may be cited: “… Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!” After hearing this, Job said to his wife: “… You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips” (v. 10). Job didn’t sin against God with his lips despite the sufferings he was going through.
Like David, we must pray to God, to set a guard over our mouths and to keep the door of our lips. Particularly, when we are suffering from those who make us difficult and afflicted, we must keep our eyes on God and pray and keep our hearts and make up our minds so that we don’t sin against God with our lips. Meanwhile, like David, our words must be pleasant for people to hear (Ps. 141:6). Our words should make the other person pleasant. I remember the words of the apostle Paul in Colossians 4:6 – “Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, …” I hope and pray that the other person can feel the grace through the words that come out of our mouths.
Fifth and last, David’s head didn’t refuse rebuke of a righteous man.
Look at Psalms 141:5 – “Let a righteous man strike me--it is a kindness; let him rebuke me--it is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it. …” In the midst of his hardships, David not only didn’t refuse the rebuke of the righteous, but he regarded it as grace. How can we view the rebuke of the righteous as grace in our face of trouble? When we are in trouble, we want to be comforted by our beloved brothers and sisters in Christ. I am sure no one wants to be rebuked. If we are rebuked, we will have a harder heart in the midst of hardship. However, I wonder how David didn’t refuse the rebuke of the righteous in the midst of difficulties, but rather regarded it as grace. I think we can summarize the secret in two words: humility and wisdom. First, humility refers to lowering David's heart in front of God in prayer while his eyes were fixed toward the Lord through hardships, suffering, and adversity. This humility was with David. So David could not reject the rebuke of the righteous and regard it as grace. Second, David had wisdom. This is what Solomon said in Proverbs 9:8 – “Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you, Reprove a wise man and he will love you.” This word is real and experienced in our lives. No matter how lovingly we rebuke those who are proud, they don’t listen. Even if we rebuke carefully and indirectly, they will not hear. Rather they will hate us. That is why we avoid rebuking the proud. However, even if we rebuke directly, not indirectly, to the wise, they will listen and will be thankful and will try to correct themselves. Of course, at the very first moment of hearing rebuke, they can feel offended. But later, when they see my sincere gratitude, I truly experience the truth of God's words, "Reprove a wise man and he will love you" (v.8). Because David had such humility and wisdom, he could not refuse the rebuke, not the comfort of the righteous, and regarded it as grace. May we have such humility and wisdom.
Whatever difficulties and adversities we are in, our eyes must turn to the Lord. And we must gaze on the Lord. We must cry out to the Lord. We must raise our hands of prayer to the Lord. Also, we must guard our hearts and refrain from inclining to evil. Let us all set the guard on our lips. Even if we are rebuked, let us not refuse it, but regard it as grace. The Lord will hear our prayers and save us.
As I want to proclaim His word ad my heart is connected with the heart of God who listens to my prayers and whose eyes are upon such sinner like me,
James Kim
(As the preached word came back to me and rebuked my heart)