Psalm 140

Evening Prayer for Protection

I have called to you, Lord; hasten to help me!

Hear my voice when I cry to you.

Let my prayer arise before you like incense

The raising of my hands like an evening oblation.

 

Set, O Lord, a guard over my mouth;

Keep watch, O Lord, at the door of my lips!

Do no turn my heart to things that are wrong,

to evil deeds with men who are sinners.

 

Never allow me to share in their feasting.

If a good man strikes or reproves me it is kindness;

But let the oil of the wicked not anoint my head.

Let my prayer be ever against their malice.

 

Their princes were thrown down by the side of the rock;

Then they understood that my words were kind.

As a millstone is shattered to pieces on the ground,

So their bones were strewn at the mouth of the grave.

 

To you, Lord God, my eyes are turned:

In you I take refuge; spare my soul!

From the trap they have laid for me keep me safe:

Keep me from the snares of those who do evil.

 

Let the wicked fall into the traps they have set

Whilst I pursue my way unharmed.

This is a powerful prayer that digs into the very heart of the need for a call for help and guidance as one seeks the need for a “father” figure to watch over them. The prayer beings with a cry for the Lord to come quickly and do something that will seek comfort for the individual that is expressing distress.

The second line of this psalm is moving as it deals with a plea for God to given the asker for protection and guidance over control of their mouth so that they are not as inclined to let in evil words and thoughts that will bring on a aura of sin and evil.

Moving to the third line of the psalm; this deals with the fact that the individual is asking for the strength to not allow the thoughts and actions of ill will or evil to stain the head or body/spirit of them; and that they will continue to be steadfast and prayerful against the evil that exists around us.

This fourth line makes reference at the fact that the sinner/ the evil doings realize that the “princes” of evil are no longer and that they are cast in shattered pieces near the entrance to the gateway to good and all things that are Holy.

As well round out the psalm, the prayer is reaffirming the fact that they eyes of mankind are always turned and in tune with that of God and all things good. And that we as followers of God are constantly seeking refuge in the good that God has in store and that we are constantly asking for our souls to be spared from the evils that exist in the world. The prayer is also asking for help in obtaining protection from the evils that have been laid in the world and that we want to stay safe from all harm. The prayer also is asking for protection from those that have turned their back to God and that they do evil in the world without care or thought

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The psalm ends asking for that the traps to not be totally eradicated but rather left, and that the evils and demons that exist be drawn towards them and that they are the ones that are then trapped within them. While at the same time the psalm asks for the prayerful to go on with their days unharmed.