Some of us talk too much. The Lord reminded me of my own tendency to “pop off” about things, to open my mouth when it should remain closed, to speak from a desire for sympathy or praise or to be seen in a favorable light, to comment on things about which no comment whatsoever (from me!) is called for. Kay’s translation of Psalm 141:3 is, “Place, O Lord, a sentry over my mouth. Keep guard over the door of my lips.” This is often my prayer. I had never noticed the connection between that prayer and an unusual one found in verse 5, “Let a righteous man smite me in mercy, and reprove me, oil for the head never may my head refuse.” Kay’s note on this: “He had asked, in verse 2, that his prayer might be established as incense, daily incense, before God. This could be only if his lips and heart were pure. Therefore he goes on to ask that he may both resist the tempting offers of prosperous wickedness, and may welcome reproof from a righteous man, as fragrant, cheering, oil, which would strengthen him to continue in patient prayer for his enemies.”
Frederick Temple wrote: “Every temptation that we meet in the path of duty is another chance of filling our souls with the power of Heaven.”
This excerpt was originally published in the July/August 1991 Elisabeth Elliot Newsletter.