# 384 A journey through the Psalms. Psalm 141. Sticks and stones?

The children’s rhyme, “Sticks and stones will break your bones, but words will never hurt you!”, “is used as a defence against name-calling and verbal bullying, intended to increase resiliency, avoid physical retaliation, and/or to remain calm and indifferent.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sticks_and_Stones .

But, in reality, we all know that words can indeed hurt! Many in the Bible, including the psalmists, certainly understood the power of speech for both good and evil. For example, read the third chapter of the letter of James in the NT. Here he is warning of the power of speech for evil, and says:

⁵ Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. ⁶ The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

⁷ All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, ⁸ but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

⁹ With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. ¹⁰ Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.  (James 3:5-10)

Wilcock summarizes Psalm 141 very briefly by saying that “it has much to do with the spoken word.” He then breaks the Psalm into three sections as follows:

“Urgent words … Guarded words … Well-spoken words.” (# 5)

But, the psalm is also about not compromising our standards and beliefs as we live in this hostile world.

So, he starts with an urgent plea to God:

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.

Kidner calls it “Pure prayer” (# 29) and reflects on the two other Bible passages that speak of prayer being likened to incense, and sacrifice. They are:

… the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.  (Revelation 5:8)

¹⁵ Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.  (Hebrews 13:15)

The psalmist then gets specific about his urgent prayer for God’s intervention in his life, and it concerns his words. He asks:

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.

He recognizes that the temptations in life can be very subtle and appealing (delicacies), and his desire is that God would protect him (his thoughts, his words and his actions), in case his heart be drawn to what is evil, so that I take part in wicked deeds.

Wilcock refers to C.S. Lewis’ “Reflections on the Psalms [which] touch on this situation … ‘How ought we to behave in the presence of bad people … very bad people who are powerful, prosperous, and impenitent?’ The temptation of ‘an evening spent in such society’ is to go with the flow, ‘to condone, to connive at; by our words, looks, and laughter, to “consent”’. Most of us do not have the acumen [awareness], the boldness, or the sanctity to see what is really going on and to say what really ought to be said on such occasions. [His advice] Best then, to stay away.” (# 5)

Still on the theme of the spoken word, the psalmist speaks not only of the verbal attacks of the enemy (remember Psalm 140:3 –They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s; the poison of vipers is on their lips.), but also of the sometimes hard words spoken as a rebuke to us by a righteous man, which he considers as a kindness! He writes:

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.

Proverbs say: Wounds from a friend can be trusted. (Proverbs 27:6) A lesson we all need to learn well, both as the receiver and sometimes as the giver.  

Then he completes this subject praying that the enemy will eventually come to their senses and that the wicked will learn that my words were well spoken (v. 6) Certainly, “the psalmist’s clear-headed and forthright plain speaking is something his world, and ours, sorely need.” (# 5)

And so he concludes, were we all need to conclude our urgent (and other) prayers:

⁸ But my eyes are fixed on you, Sovereign Lord;
    in you I take refuge—do not give me over to death.

Or in the words of Hebrews:

… let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. (Hebrews 12:1-2)