Heralds Digest

  “ 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. For still my prayer is against the deeds of the wicked. ” Psalms 141 : 5 NKJV Ordinarily, no one embraces rebukes at the expense of wages, despite the package with the colouration of wickedness. For example, Mordecai’s rebuke of Esther’s coldness at the palace would have gone down the drain, but for the later consideration of the divine purpose in times of the challenges of life. And unlike Haman embraced the wicked wages through promotion and privileges for wrath, righteous rebukes always advance sober reflection, divine inspiration, and scriptural revelations. For “ All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness ( II Timothy 3 : 16 )”, and only those who embrace the strikes and rebukes in their quiet times get the kindness of the Lord. Unfortunately,...

  “Do not incline my heart to any evil thing, To practice wicked works With men who work iniquity; And do not let me eat of their delicacies.” Psalms 141 : 4 NKJV There is a gross difference in the import of wicked works between those perpetrated by the stack of wicked people and those executed by supposedly righteous or religious people. Wicked works by wicked people have boundaries; and only those who cross these boundaries get punished. Whereas, wicked works by the supposedly righteous or religious people require uncommon discernment for anyone to escape falling into the traps. Unfortunately, many righteous people are easily trapped into the webs of corruption, condemnations and confusion caused by the atrocity of the supposedly righteous or religious people. Therefore, when the psalmist cried “ Do not incline my heart to any evil thing, To practice wicked works With men who work iniquity“ , he knows the true danger of hypocritical engagement into the practice of wicked works...

  “Do not incline my heart to any evil thing, To practice wicked works With men who work iniquity; And do not let me eat of their delicacies.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭141:4‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ There are different grades of evil practices, starting from evil romancing and ending with evil rustling. Apart from the devil and his fallen angels, almost all evil workers do not get enlisted with outright bad intentions. The list of attractions into wicked works include provision of basic needs for self or loved ones, smart deliverance from another grade of wicked networks, etc. The reality is that all temptations to participate in wicked works have an attractive selling point or dirty delicacies. Unfortunately, decent delicacies in life, career, family and ministries come with an unattractive price of patience and waiting upon the Lord. And for those who are distracted by dirty delicacies, their hearts are deceived to secretly practice iniquities, even while openly engaged in righteous conversations. Therefore, ...

  “Do not incline my heart to any evil thing, To practice wicked works With men who work iniquity; And do not let me eat of their delicacies.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭141:4‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ https://www.bible.com/114/psa.141.4.nkjv Evil acts do not often start with the wilful engagement of hands and legs into the activities of wicked workers. It starts with the subtle entrapment of the heart with evil desires and affection, even though the body, hands and legs appear sane and sincere. Therefore, it is important for the righteous to watch out for the onset of the conducive environment for evil entrapment, like idleness, wishful thinking, envy, ungrateful disposition,   blame game, etc. Since this evil-prone environment attracts men who practice wicked works, the righteous would rather remove himself from this environment than engaging in the business of sanitizing the environment. When the Psalmist declared “Do not incline my heart to any evil thing”, it was a prayerful engagement between him and th...

http://bible.us/psa141.5.nkjv 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. For still my prayer is against the deeds of the wicked. Relationships are commonly developed and nurtured based on self-interest. Right relationships are easily selected based on special consideration of status and reputation. While these considerations are reasonable, the consequences include the misplacement of the priority of righteousness in every relationship. The content of the Psalmist prayer to God suggests the level of his contentment with all relationships with men. Unlike the emphasis on right relationship, righteous relationship encourages the interactions of men on the basis of promoting intimacy with God. Consequently, demand for self-recognition is sacrificed on the altar of righteous relationship in order to please God.