Psalm 141 "Just Slap Me!"

Psalm for Today = 141:5, 9

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…

⁹ Keep me from the trap that they have laid for me
    and from the snares of evildoers!

Comments:

Almost every time I have commented on this Psalm I have talked about verses 3-4 that talk about God setting a guard over our mouths. I will not talk about that his time. Let’s look at verse 5 which is not as well received in our culture today. We don’t like to be corrected, much less actually disciplined, yet the wise man is teachable and correctible.

“Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness”: Will we respond to righteous disciple as actually being a kindness shown to us that will save us from more pain and misery later or will we stiffen our neck and fight back?

“let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head”: this is a parallel line to the previous. Rebuke is like the oil that was put on the head of the guest when he arrives after a long dusty walk—“let  my head not refuse it.”

 

At the same time that he is being teachable to the rebuke of the righteous, he is praying against the works and words of the evildoers. This is not only a crying out for justice and deliverance but a tacit acknowledgment that the psalmist knows he needs God’s help to hinder evil deeds, and that he has compassion on those upon whom the evil deeds might fall.

What we so often fail to see is that the elements of verse 5 are necessary in order for the prayer of verse 9 to be answered.

 

If we won’t be disciplined and learn from the rebuke of righteous men and women, then we have no hope of avoiding the snares and traps of the evildoer. Proverbs 12:1 says,

“Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.”

 

And in the New Testament, the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews makes it clear that discipline is a sign that God loves us.

^"And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
    nor be weary when reproved by him.
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
    and chastises every son whom he receives.”

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? (Hebrews 12:5-7)

 

If we don’t pray against evil deeds, we are either arrogant in our self-regard, or without compassion for those at risk, or maybe both—Heaven forbid! As it is written,

 

 “I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” (Revelation 3:18-20)