Year 8, Day 279: Psalms 141-142

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Psalm 141 contains a very memorable image for me.  “Let my prayers rise up as incense before you.”  Part of why it is memorable is because I am highly allergic to incense.  If a person lights incense in my presence, I need to leave the room as soon as possible or my chest tightens and it becomes quite hard to breathe.  Fortunately, it’s never been life threatening; but it is an experience.

That being said, it is still not a negative image for me.  I know that incense fills the room.  It seeps into every nook and cranny.  The scent lingers upon those who are in the room.  There is no escape from incense.  It is very comforting to think of my prayers as incense, lingering before God and filling His presence.  It is an image that is very helpful in times when I feel alone and cast aside.  If my prayers are like incense before God, then I am in His presence as He promises I will be.

Before leaving the psalm, there is a challenge in verse 5 that should not be overlooked.  The psalmist says that it is a kindness to be struck by a righteous man and his rebuke is like oil upon the head.  While it certainly makes sense to consider righteous the correction of the righteous, I wonder how often we do actually feel that way.  Correction is hard to take.  Rebuke seldom feels good in the morning.  Yet it is good for us.  We should welcome the rebuke of the righteous.

Turning to Psalm 142 gives another psalm of David.  Once more we hear David crying out to the Lord because he is being persecuted and he does not want to be forgotten or abandoned.  It would seem like David would have benefitted from hearing His own words in Psalm 141.  Here he feels forgotten, in the last psalm he prayed that his prayers would be like incense.

I love the contrast in these psalms.  It is so good to see humanity.  In one moment, David is close to God.  In another moment a later, David feels forgotten and overlooked.  Human beings are emotional beings who change with our surroundings and our circumstances.  We have highs and lows.  It is simply what it means to be human.

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