hasten to me Lord

A Psalm of David.
1 O Lord, I call upon you; hasten to me!
Give ear to my voice when I call to you!
2 Let my prayer be counted as incense before you,
and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!

3 Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth;
keep watch over the door of my lips!
4 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!

5 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.
6 When their judges are thrown over the cliff,
then they shall hear my words, for they are pleasant.
7 As when one plows and breaks up the earth,
so shall our bones be scattered at the mouth of Sheol.

8 But my eyes are toward you, O God, my Lord;
in you I seek refuge; leave me not defenseless!
9 Keep me from the trap that they have laid for me
and from the snares of evildoers!
10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets,
while I pass by safely.

- Psalm 141

As I read this psalm I was amazed by David’s passion that poured out in his words. You can just feel the intensity of this prayer as thought you are right in his midst as he offers it up to the Lord.  David longs for nothing more than to dwell with the Lord all the days of his life (Psalm 27).  This psalms shows us how he seeks to accomplish this. Just look at how many different ways David expresses his longing to the Lord:

- he calls out to him (v1),
- he longs for his prayers to be pleasing (v2),
- he raises his hands to the Lord (v2), 
- he asks for the Lord to guard his lips and heart (3)
- he avoids the pleasures of evil (v4) 
- he longs for the reproof of the righteous (v5)
- he prays for the wicked to hear his words (v6)
- he keeps his focus on the Lord only (v8)

This passion amazes me! I was floored particulary by verse 5, “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.” Could you pray in this same way?  How often do we avoid the challenge of a righteous man? Rarely ever do we desire to be corrected, because we fail to see the benefit from being sharpened.  A challenge from a righteous man can be a difficult pill to swallow sometimes and so often we avoid any chance of receiving such a challenge.  And instead of avoiding it, David actually prays for it to come.  He longs for the sweet fellowship with the Lord so much that he prays for correction to come because he knows it is only for his benefit.  Wow! Could we long for the Lord’s fellowship so much that we wouldn’t just accept correction and exhortation from a brother or sister in Christ but pray for it to come?! Let that become our prayers, let that become our fellowship with each other, and let that become our lives!

- one who is learning to pray for the rebuke of the righteous