David’s Prayer For Self-Control (Psalms 141:1-4)

by Chris Simmons

In Psalms 141:1-4, David prayed, “O Lord, I call upon Thee; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to Thee! May my prayer be counted as incense before Thee; the lifting up of my hands as the evening offering. Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips. 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.” Notice the following portions of this prayer and how they might apply to our lives.

Exactly when this Psalm was written by David, we simply do not know. From this Psalm we can conclude that it was written at a time when he was observing the wicked conduct of those around him and while he felt the need for “refuge” from God. Regardless of whether it was the period before he became king when King Saul was seeking to put him to death (I Samuel 19–31) or after David’s sin with Bathsheba when his family (led by his son Absalom) rebelled against him (II Samuel 12–18), David earnestly prayed for God’s help and his words should resonate with each one of us as we battle temptation and sin.

“I call upon Thee; hasten to me!” As noted, there were plenty of dire situations which could have provoked David to call upon God for divine help. We normally associate calling upon God with times of adversity and such is indeed appropriate to do. But what about calling upon God during times of prosperity? Do we still need Him then? We need to realize that we need to seek God and call upon Him in good times and in bad. We also need to understand what it means to call upon the Lord. One popular commentator has said, “It is easy to be saved. All that God requires of us is to call upon him, to pray to him, and he will answer and save” (Barnes’ Notes). It’s not enough to just verbally call His name. We must humbly submit our will unto Him even as Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.”

David’s plea for God to “hasten to me” is that God would come quickly and with great urgency to help him. David wrote in Psalms 38:21-22, “Do not forsake me, O Lord; O my God, do not be far from me! Make haste to help me, O lord, my salvation!” Should we not still pray today for God to hasten to us? Do we understand the urgency when facing temptation and trials to have God near us? But how does God hasten to us? James said it’s in response to our drawing near to Him. James 4:7-8, “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” God will hasten to help those who humble themselves and display the humility to plead for His help. God will hasten and draw near to the one who hastens to exercise self-control to purify his heart and draw near to God.

David also requested that God “give ear to my voice when I call to you.” Indeed, we are promised in I John 5:14-15, “… that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.” However, we need to remember that God’s word also teaches that not all prayers are heard or even desired or welcome (Isaiah 1:15; Zechariah 7:12-13; Jeremiah 11:14; Amos 5:23; I Peter 3:7). The key is to humbly pray according to His will and seek forgiveness when we have sinned.

An interesting question is, if we are praying that God will hasten to us and help us, what type of help are we seeking? In what way do we seek God’s assistance, support, or protection? On more than one occasion (Mark 10:36 and 10:51) Jesus asked the question, “What do you want Me to do for you?” What type of help do we seek from God? Are we just looking for a good life here on earth, free of pain and full of temporal blessings? Are we seeking that which is above or that which is of this life (Colossians 3:1-2)? James (4:3) spoke of the need to watch our “motives” as we pray. David’s “motives” weren’t selfish and fleshly in nature but were directed towards his self-control and his ability to be pleasing to God.

First, he prayed, “set a guard over my mouth.” David desired help controlling his tongue. When our enemies are provoking and challenging us, we are in danger of losing control of our tongues and speaking that which we ought not speak. When we fail to adopt God’s perspective of our enemies, we are in grave spiritual danger. We must be careful against the “careless” words that Jesus warned of in Matthew 12:36. David was not seeking to have God miraculously prevent sinful words from coming out of his mouth. Rather, David realized he must exercise self-control and guard his heart and mind to prevent corrupt speech from coming out of his mouth. He said in Psalms 39:1, “I said, ‘I will guard my ways that I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth as with a muzzle while the wicked are in my presence.’” To attempt to control our tongue without controlling our heart is ultimately vain (Matthew 12:33-35). We must not be “hasty” in what we say (Proverbs 29:20) but rather be “quick to hear, slow to speak” (James 1:19). To restrain our tongue and our words requires self-control and a “cool spirit” (Proverbs 17:27).

Second, he prayed, “Do not incline my heart to do any evil thing.” David desired help controlling his heart. Sin has its (temporary) appeal and if we’re not careful, we may find our heart “inclined” towards that fleeting allurement (Hebrews 11:25). We need to incline our heart to God’s word. David wrote in Psalms 119:36-38, “Incline my heart to Your testimonies and not to dishonest gain. Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity, and revive me in Your ways. Establish Your word to Your servant, as that which produces reverence for You.” Like it or not, there is a relationship between what our eyes see (Joshua 24:23), what our ears hear (Psalms 45:10; Proverbs 2:2; 4:20; Isaiah 55:3), and what our heart is inclined towards. As we teach the children to sing, “be careful little eyes what you see” and “be careful little ears what you hear.” We need to be aware of evil and sin in all of their manifestations (“every form of evil”) and “abstain” from fleshly lusts (I Peter 2:11).

David combined the concepts of controlling his heart, his thoughts, and his words in Psalms 19:13-14, “Also keep back Thy servant from presumptuous sins; let them not rule over me; then I shall be blameless, and I shall be acquitted of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.”