March 19
"Let the righteous strike me, it shall be a
kindness,
and let him rebuke me, it
shall be as excellent oil,
let my
head not refuse it."
Psalm
141:5
Only a truly humble person could bring to God a prayer
like this. He is so intent on doing right before the Lord that he
actually prays that a righteous person be sent to him to point out
where he is wrong.
We are a fallen people, a people whose
first reaction to any accusation is hostility, "how dare he say
such a thing to me!" ...and then we bring to mind anything
negative that we can say about that person. Isn't it true?
But
the truly humble person is so concerned with being right with God and
wanting to be told wherever he or she is missing it, that he is
willing to receive a rebuke.
"Faithful are the wounds of
a friend..."
Proverbs
27:6
While this humble man prays to be shown any error in his
way and is welcoming of a rebuke, yet for himself he prays for
protection from his own words.
"Set a guard, O Lord, over
my mouth,
keep watch over the door of
my lips."
Psalm 141:3
As
people wanting to be pleasing to God, it's important that we ask to
be shown any point on which we're missing it. This can only come
through humbling one's heart before God and asking, especially when
the sins are secret, sins perhaps we're even unaware of. The Lord
knows our errors, and every secret thing is plain to him. Let us
therefore humble ourselves before him and pray to be protected from
our own selves.
"Who can understand his errors?
Cleanse
me from secret faults,
keep back your
servant also from presumptuous sins;
let
them not have dominion over me.
Psalm
19:12-13
No comments:
Post a Comment