1 Lord, I cry unto thee:make haste unto me;
give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee.
2 Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense;
and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
3 Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth;
keep the door of my lips.
4 Incline not my heart to any evil thing,
to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity:
and let me not eat of their dainties.
5 Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness:
and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil,
which shall not break my head:
for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities.
6 When their judges are overthrown in stony places,
they shall hear my words; for they are sweet.
7 Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth,
as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth.
8 But mine eyes are unto thee, O God the Lord:
in thee is my trust; leave not my soul destitute.
9 Keep me from the snares which they have laid for me,
and the gins of the workers of iniquity.
10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets,
whilst that I withal escape.
Comments by Joan Boney ...
3 Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth;
keep the door of my lips.
The Holy Spirit is that "watch", putting a check on me before I speak that I might back down and not allow my tongue to rule ... Often I am held back by the Holy Spirit's warning. Of course I could go ahead but when I am warned by Holy Spirit it would frighten me to go through the stop sign HE presents. As I refuse to speak certain things, I cause my own tongue to suffer, I suffer in the flesh, not letting the flesh do as it wills.
We do not want to hurt the church ... and we do not want to hurt the world, needlessly.
We want that which we speak to be of God, causing gratitude to God ...
Eph. 4 ... 29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
Causing the hearer to be grateful to God.
30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
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4 Incline not my heart to any evil thing,
to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity:
and let me not eat of their dainties.
When I was a new Christian in 1975, I attended a prayer group. At one meeting the above scripture was mentioned. Two of the women in the group reacted to the part that says "let me not eat of their dainties" ... I could see a grimace on their faces, showing they didn't want to pray that. They wanted to eat of the dainties presented by this world.
A movie on TV was very appealing to me. The cast was interesting. It was directed and written by very fine directors and writers. Over all it was very appealing until I began watching it and saw it was going to be an evil plot. I watched several minutes. The dialogue was interesting. But it was the subject of divorce and marriage for personal gain and planned divorce even before the marriage. These were portraying worldly people. But even with people of this world, I find this plot to be distasteful, though I admit it was charming evil the way it was presented. I finally stopped it and deleted it knowing it would be better not to indulge in this.
James 1 ... 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin:and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
The "lust" for me was the appreciating of fine writing and directing which this film had. But the subject was so distasteful I decided no matter how good the writing/directing was, it was not wise for me.
Tempt means ... enticed to do something that they find attractive but know to be wrong or not beneficial ... risky or dangerous that is usually of undesirable consequences.
Certainly this movie was not "beneficial" to me.
It may seem a minor thing, but once we choose evil over good, then where does it end? These choices are important for the saving of our own soul.
Mt. 7... Jesus instructed ...13 Enter ye in at the strait gate:for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
strait means: limited, narrow, strict
syn: strict ...
- demanding that rules concerning behavior are obeyed and observed
- following rules or beliefs exactly
- exact in adherence to something, not allowing or admitting deviation or relaxation
It is up to each of us to govern ourselves according to the Bible based especially to that shown us by Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit shows the the way to go in the decisions of this life but we do have a choice. Holy Spirit does not force us to take the good way though HE shows us the good way. We can go in evil way if we choose to do so.
Jesus said few would go in the way of life.
The other way in these decisions is death.
It is up to us to choose life.
Deut. 30 ... 15 See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; 16 In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in HIS ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply:and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
17 But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; 18 I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.
19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing:therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
20 That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey HIS voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto HIM:for HE is thy life, and the length of thy days:that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
Therefore we must work out our own salvation with fear and trembling as the apostle Paul tells us to do. Phil. 2:12
I Jn. 5 ... 18 We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. 19 And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.
The Old Testament is filled with examples of people who were children of God who chose to do evil and the results of their choices. These scriptures are supposed to be examples for us so we would be warned about making such choices. It is like there are two doors, one saying "EVIL" and the other door saying "GOOD". It is up to each of us to choose the door we are going through. The Holy Spirit warns us but HE does not make us choose GOOD. The choice is left up to us.
If we cannot stand against the specific temptation, at the time of the temptation, we can pray, asking Jesus to help us, for HE knows what it is to be tempted and yet HE was without sin ... so Jesus is able to help us.
Hebrews 4 ... 14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. 15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.