(Through the Bible) Psalms 136-150 — Chuck Smith

Psalm 136: Thanksgiving for God’s Enduring Mercy

So we turn now in our Bibles to Psalm 136. Throughout the 136th Psalm, we have the repeated phrase, for His mercy endureth forever. And this is repeated in each of the verses throughout the entire Psalm.

And so he begins the Psalm by an exhortation of giving thanks. O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endureth forever. Over and over in the Psalms, this is a repeated kind of a refrain.

Remember, this is their songbook, and so one of the things of which they were constantly singing was the goodness of God and the mercies of God. O give thanks unto the God of gods, for His mercy endureth forever.

O give thanks unto the Lord of lords, for His mercy endureth forever. To Him who alone doeth great wonders, for His mercy endureth forever. And now he goes on to exhort praise and thanksgiving for God's creative acts.

And he starts out in a general act of creation, and then he lists many of the creative acts of God. To Him that by wisdom made the heavens, for His mercy endureth forever. To Him that stretched out the earth above the waters, for His mercy endureth forever.

To Him that made great lights, for His mercy endureth forever. The sun to rule by the day, for His mercy endureth forever. The moon and the stars to rule by night. And now he commands the praise and thanksgiving to God for His special blessings upon the nation Israel and for the creation of that nation.

To Him that smote Egypt in their firstborn, and brought Israel from among them with a strong hand and with a stretched out arm. To Him which divided the Red Sea in two parts, and made Israel to pass through the midst of it, but overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea.

To Him that led His people through the wilderness. To Him which smote great kings and slew famous kings. Sihon, the king of the Amorites. Og, the king of Bashan. And gave their land for a heritage, even a heritage unto Israel, who remembered us in our lowest state and hath redeemed us from our enemies, who giveth food to all flesh.

Og, give thanks unto the God of heaven for His mercy endureth forever. Now, in order that you might get sort of an idea of how many of these songs were sung, in a song such as this, quite often the men would take the first part, and the women would answer in the refrain, for His mercy endureth forever.

And so much as we sing some of the psalms where the women have sort of an after part, these particular psalms were written, designed for this after part effect. So, in order that we might get sort of the idea of it, how about the fellows reading together the first parts, and the women answering each time, for His mercy endureth forever.

And you get the idea of how these psalms were actually sung as this is actually a sung book of the Hebrew people. Okay, fellows. Og, give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good. Og, give thanks unto the God of gods.

Og, give thanks unto the Lord of lords.

For His mercy endureth forever.

To Him alone who does great wonders.

For His mercy endureth forever.

To Him that by wisdom made the heavens. To Him that stretcheth out the earth above the waters.

For His mercy endureth forever.

To Him that made great lights.

For His mercy endureth forever.

The sun to rule by day.

For His mercy endureth forever.

The moon and the stars to rule by night.

For His mercy endureth forever.

To Him that smote Egypt in their firstborn.

For His mercy endureth forever.

And brought out Israel from among them.

For His mercy endureth forever.

With a strong hand and with a stretched out arm.

For His mercy endureth forever.

To Him which divided the Red Sea into parts.

For His mercy endureth forever.

And made Israel to pass through the midst of it.

For His mercy endureth forever.

But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea.

For His mercy endureth forever.

To Him which led His people through the wilderness.

For His mercy endureth forever.

To Him which smote great kings.

For His mercy endureth forever. And slew famous kings.

Sihon the king of the Amorites.

For His mercy endureth forever. And Og the king of Bashan. For His mercy endureth forever.

And gave their land for a heritage.

For His mercy endureth forever.

Even a heritage unto Israel His servant.

For His mercy endureth forever.

Who remembered us in our lowest state. For His mercy endureth forever. And hath redeemed us from our enemies.

For His mercy endureth forever.

Who giveth food to all flesh.

For His mercy endureth forever.

O give thanks unto the God of heaven. Now the purpose of the Psalms was to impress upon you a certain thought or idea. And I think you get the idea. By the time you've sung this through. You get the impression that God's mercy endureth forever.

And in all situations under all circumstances. God's mercy endureth forever. And it's something that comes across. As you go through the Psalm. It's something that's impressed then upon your heart. And that was the purpose to impress truth.

Upon the heart of the people. Psalm 137 is a psalm of captivity. Written many years after David's time. Written by one of those who were captive in Babylon. By the rivers of Babylon there we sat down.

Yes, we wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For they that carried us away captives required us a song. And they that wasted us required of us mirth.

Saying, sing us one of the songs of Zion. But how shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.

If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem. Who said, raise it, raise it, even to the foundation thereof. O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed.

Happy shall be he that rewards thee as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones. So, the psalm reflecting the Babylonian captivity were the Babylonians required of them to sing some of your songs.

Psalm 137: Captivity, Grief, and the Judgment of God

Now, singing is a very important part of Jewish life. One thing I like about the Israelis even today is the music. It has such life to it. And they have big music festivals over there all the time. We always try to purchase the records from these music festivals even though I don't understand Hebrew.

I enjoy listening to the music. There's such life to it. Quite often, our bus drivers and guides will get together in the evening and they'll have a time of singing. And it's always exciting, these evenings of song.

Their songs are exciting songs. There's just a lot of action, a lot of rhythm, a lot of exuberance in their song. You know, they... Hava negila, hava negila. You know, and they really get into it. You know, and you can feel it.

These guys just really love to sing. And it's a beautiful experience. As in Ecclesiastes, there's a time to sing. And there are times when you don't feel like singing. And while they were captives in Babylon and they were thinking of the desolation of Jerusalem, it was hard to sing of the joys of the land, of the blessings, of the prosperities, of the goodness of God.

And so while in Babylon, their songs were silent. We hung our harps on the willow trees. We just sat down by the river and wept when we would think of Jerusalem. Their last memories of Jerusalem was the smoldering smoke ascending from a city that had been devastated, looking back they could see Solomon's once glorious temple flattened.

And as they saw the desolation and it was implanted in their minds, now remembering it, hard to sing. Now, the psalmist, first of all, takes off against the Edomites. The Edomites were the descendants of Esau.

They were sort of perennial enemies of the Jews. Many battles against them and they would often join with anybody who would attack Israel, they would attack too. Anytime Israel would be attacked by any of the aggressors from the north, they'd always attack from the south.

And when the Babylonians were attacking, they came from Edom and they were encouraging the Babylonians in the destruction of Jerusalem, raise it, raise it to its foundation. Wipe it out. God, you reward them.

Take care of them for that. And then because God's word had predicted the fall of Babylon, the psalmist, because of all of the injuries suffered by the people at the hands of the Babylonians, the psalmist with glee, actually, looked forward to the destruction of Babylon, the enemy of God.

Now, in the New Testament, we are taught to love our enemies. These expressions of the psalmist really are not expressions of God in the sense that God never delights in judgment. God never delights in bringing His judgment upon a people or upon a nation.

And yet, we so often want to see the judgment of God fall upon the head of the wicked. We can hardly wait for the day of God's judgment. But God is not anxious to judge at all. God would much rather show mercy for His mercy endureth forever.

And God delights in mercy. You remember when God sent Jonah to Nineveh to warn that city, the Assyrian capital, of the impending doom, the judgment of God that was coming. Jonah didn't want to go. Why?

He was afraid if he went, they might repent and God wouldn't judge him. He wanted to see God's judgment on Assyria. He wanted to see Nineveh wiped out. And so, to help ensure God's judgment against them, he tried to take off for England so he could escape the call of God.

And later on, when under pressure and duress he went to Nineveh. And they did repent in sackcloth and ashes before the Lord. And God's mercy was extended to them. He got angry with God. Went out and sat under a tree and said, OK, God, just wipe me out.

And God said, what's the matter? Is it right for you to be so angry? He said, you bet your life. I knew that you were merciful. I knew. I was afraid this was going to happen. They were going to repent and then you weren't going to wipe them out.

And he was angry because God's judgment didn't fall. But God isn't anxious to judge. I think that we oftentimes have a false concept in our mind concerning God that He is just sort of standing over us with a club, waiting to bash us for the first wrong move.

Not so. God is desiring to show His mercy on you and He's just looking for an excuse. He's just looking for you to give Him an excuse to say, well, that's alright, I forgive you. He's looking for you to say, oh God, I'm sorry for His mercy.

Endureth forever. So the psalmist expresses actually a glee in the destruction that is to come upon Babylon, but it is not really the expression of God's heart when the judgment will fall. I'm sure that God always weeps over judgment.

We find Jesus looking over the city of Jerusalem and weeping. Why? Why? Because of the judgment that was going to come upon the city. Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, if you'd only known the things that belong to your peace at least in this thy day.

And now they are hid from your eyes and your little children are going to be dashed in the streets. And He's weeping as He speaks of the judgment. It's not a gleeful thing. It's alright, we'll get even with you.

You reject me, you crucify me, we'll take care of you. We'll put you up on a Roman giblet and see how you like it. Not at all. It's weeping. Weeping because their actions necessitate the judgment of God.

But weeping over the judgment. And I'm certain that whenever God is forced to judge, that there's always a great sorrow in the heart of God. Psalm 138 I will praise Thee with my whole heart. Before the gods will I sing praise unto Thee.

I will worship toward Thy holy temple and praise Thy name for Thy lovingkindness and for Thy truth. For Thou hast magnified Thy word above all Thy name. Here David is expressing his praise unto the Lord.

Psalm 138: God’s Word and the Name of the Lord

Praising God with a whole heart. Praising God for His lovingkindness, His truth, and for His word. That God has magnified His word above His name. Now, in all the earth, there is no name like the name of God.

In the Old Testament times, the Jews held this name in such high esteem that they would never pronounce the name of God. They felt that no human's lips were worthy to pronounce His name. And it came to pass that as they would copy the Scriptures, when they came to the name of God, they would only copy the consonants, leaving out the vowels, so that a person would not even pronounce the name in his mind as he was reading, because just the consonants were unpronounceable.

And so in the reading of the Scriptures, when they would come to this name of God, they would just bow their head and worship. Now, as we've gone through the Psalms, you've noticed how often it says, Thy name, O Lord, is above all the earth.

Thy name, O Lord, is to be magnified. Thy name. And all of the emphasis that was put upon the name of God. The name of the Lord is a high tower. The righteous runneth into it and is safe. And so they would just put consonants, Y-H-V-H.

Try and pronounce it. It's impossible to pronounce. They left out the vowels deliberately so that people would not be tempted to pronounce the name. This was never required of God. This was just sort of something that man, by religious tradition, picked up on.

There are a lot of things that God doesn't require. Men have just made them religious traditions. And so we follow in the religious traditions of man things that are not necessarily commands or even desires or wishes of God.

Man always has to make some kind of religious hocus-pocus out of things, rather than just taking it straight as God dished it out. And so, we do not know for sure the exact pronunciation, but it is thought to be Yahweh.

There are some who say Yahovah. And there is a theological debate on what is the correct pronunciation, whether it be Yahovah or Yahweh. It seems that Yahovah is a more recent type of a pronunciation dating from maybe the 16th century.

And that Yahweh is indeed the correct pronunciation for the name of God. We don't know. But Yah is the contracted form. They would refer to it as Yah. And thus, there were many names that had this Yah in it.

Yahosephat, Joshua. Yahshua, actually. Yahshua. And this Yahshua, the contracted form of Yahweh is salvation, is the name Jesus in Greek. So, He was given one of the names of God. Yahshua. Jehovah has become our salvation.

Now, in the New Testament, we read that God has given to Him that is Jesus Christ a name that is above all names. That at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord to the glory of God the Father.

A name above all names. Yet, as important as is the name of Jesus, as glorious as is the name of Jesus, yet God has honored His Word. Thou hast magnified Thy Word above even Thy name. Now, as I say, there's nothing more important than the name of God.

And yet, He has put His Word even above the name as far as magnifying His Word. Jesus said, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My Word shall never pass away. We need also to honor the Word of God even as He has honored it.

In the day, the psalmist said, when I cried, You answered me, and You strengthened me with strength in my soul. All the kings of the earth shall praise Thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of Thy mouth.

And so, referring to the Word of God. Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord. Though the Lord be high, yet He has respect to the lowly, but the proud He knoweth afar off.

Here's again a good example of Hebrew poetry, the contrast. The Lord is high, yet He has respect to the lowly, but the proud. So you have the contrast here. He knoweth afar off. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me.

You shall stretch forth Your hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and Thy right hand shall save me. The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endures forever. Forsake not the works of Thy own hands.

I love this verse. The Lord will perfect that. And the word perfect is to complete. God's going to complete that which concerns me. Those things that are a concern to you in your relationship with God, God's going to take care of it.

The Lord is going to perfect that which concerns me. For His mercy endures forever. And then the prayer, Lord, don't forsake. I am the work of His hands. God, don't forsake the work of Your own hands.

Psalm 139: God’s Complete Knowledge and Presence

Psalm 139, another psalm of David to the chief musician. As David offers this prayer really unto God, declaring, first of all, O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me. Recognizing that God knows me completely and fully.

You know my down sittings and my uprisings, or You know my ups and my downs. You understand my thoughts afar off. The Hebrew is, You understand my thoughts in their origins. Before I even think them, You know them.

You know the processes by which they are formed. You compasseth my path and my lying down. You're acquainted with all my ways. When I'm walking, I'm encircled by You. When I'm lying down, I'm encircled by You.

I'm encompassed by You in everything. Paul the Apostle said, For in Him we live, we move, we have our being. The all-prevailing presence of God surrounding my life. God's omnipresence. There is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, You know it altogether.

So, God knows me so completely. Thou hast beset me behind and before and You've laid Your hand upon me. I look back and I see the hand of God on my life. I look ahead and I see God's plan. And right now, I feel the hand of God upon me.

You see, I'm surrounded. My past, present, and my future is all wrapped up with God. You've beset me behind and before and Your hand is upon me. The psalmist declared, Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.

It is high. I cannot attain it. What knowledge? Self-knowledge. Very few people really know their selves. We have hidden the truth about ourselves so long that we don't even know the truth about our own selves.

The heart is deceitful above all things. Desperately wicked. Who can know it? Yet God said, I do search the hearts of man. But who really knows the motives, the true motives behind our actions? And yet it is God who weighs the motives.

We put so much emphasis upon a person's actions. God puts the emphasis upon the attitudes, the motives from which the actions spring. And it is possible, very possible, for people to have right actions with wrong motives.

And God's looking at the motive. Take heed to yourself, Jesus said, that you do not your righteousness before men to be seen of men. In other words, that should not be your motive, to be recognized by man.

That's why I'm doing my righteous thing so people can see me. You've got to be careful that that isn't your motive. For Jesus said, I say unto you, you have your reward. Now He tells about people who were doing the right things.

They were giving to God. They were praying. They were fasting. But yet they were doing it always with the wrong motive. And thus, no reward from God. No recognition from God for what they were doing. For God weighs the heart.

God is checking the attitudes, the motives by which I do things. And the Bible says that one day we are all to stand before the judgment seat of Christ to receive the things that we have done in our body, whether they be good or evil.

And our works are all going to be tried by fire of what manner or sort they are. So all of the works that a person has done for God. Oh Lord, weren't we doing this? Weren't we doing that? Weren't we big stars?

And we were on TV and we were doing all these wonderful things for You. And Jesus said, Hey, I never knew you. Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. The whole motive was wrong. The motive was to receive the recognition, the glory, the applaud, the praise of man.

So take heed to yourself, Jesus said. How you do your righteousness that you don't do it with the motive of being seen of man. And so here the psalmist declared, self-knowledge. It's too much for me.

I cannot attain it. Now whither shall I go from Thy presence or from Thy Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, Thou art there. But if I make my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there.

Beyond my presence of God, filling the universe, there is no place that you can go and escape the presence of God. In Him we live, we move, we have our being. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall Thy hand lead me and Thy right hand shall hold me.

If I say, Oh, surely the darkness will cover me, even the night will be light about me. Yea, the darkness does not hide from you, but the night shines as the day and the darkness and the light are both alike unto thee.

In other words, with God there is no darkness. There is no hiding in darkness. It makes no difference to God. He can see you just as well at night as He can during the day. Turn the lights out and hide from God.

No, it doesn't make any difference. God can see us. Light and darkness are the same to Him. For you have possessed my range, you've covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made, and marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well.

Fearfully and wonderfully made. More and more we're discovering how wonderfully made we are made. The human body. There's a new book entitled Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. I recommend the book. It's just excellent reading for you.

Written by a doctor who spent many years as a missionary doctor in a leprosarium and has done his most recent work back at Carville, Louisiana. In the leprosarium there, which they no longer call leprosariums.

It's a institute for the study of Hansen's disease. It's an excellent book. I think you'll enjoy it as he, from a medical standpoint, delves into the marvels of the human body. I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

And the title of the book is Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance yet being imperfect, and in thy book all my members were written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them.

In other words, God knew me completely before I was ever born. When I was still just, you know, chemicals. God knew me completely. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!

If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I awake, I'm still with You. God's thoughts for me. How precious they are. How great is the sum. If I should number them, more than the sand.

I love to go down to the beach and just take and get a handful of sand and just open up the bottom of my hand and let it just drop on down and form a pile. And watch those grains of sand fall. I think something therapeutic about it just feels good.

But also as those grains of sand are falling, I think, wow! God's thoughts concerning me, if I could number them, are more than the sand of the sea. Each one of those little grains of sand represent one of God's thoughts concerning me.

God's thinking about me all the time. And then God said, my thoughts toward you are good, not evil. And so I drop a few little piles of sand on the beach and then I just look up at the beach. I see all the grains of sand and I think, oh my!

How wonderful, Lord. How precious are Thy thoughts of me. The psalmist then speaks of the wicked. God is going to destroy the wicked. Therefore, I want to depart from wicked men. I don't want to keep company with evil men.

For they speak against God wickedly. They take His name in vain. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate You? Am I not greed with those that rise up against You? I hate them with a perfect hatred. I count them mine enemies, the psalmist said.

And then his prayer. That is his petition. The whole thing is prayer. This is now the petition. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. Who is the man who prays, search me, O God?

He's the man who understands and knows that he doesn't know himself. The man who recognizes that he really doesn't know himself is the man who prays, search me, O God, and know my thoughts. And know my heart.

Try me. My heart is deceitful. My heart is desperately wicked. Lord, know my heart. Try me. Know my thoughts. And see if there be some wicked way in me, because You're going to destroy the wicked. I don't want to be wicked.

See if there is something there, Lord, that is displeasing to You. Now, the work of the Holy Spirit is not only revealing Christ to us, but revealing ourselves to us. How often the Holy Spirit reveals to me the truth about myself.

My reaction, my response to a situation, the Holy Spirit will say, Alright, Chuck, now that was wrong. That wasn't a Christ-like spirit. You weren't responding in love. You were angry with Him. And I usually say, Yes, I am, and I have a right to be.

But then He starts dealing with me as He reveals those areas of my life that are not yet brought to the cross, not yet brought into conformity to Jesus Christ. Those areas of self that still are there that He is desiring to give me victory over.

The Holy Spirit's work is that of revealing to us those areas of our lives that are displeasing to God. And then the prayer ends, Lead me in the way everlasting. Lead me in the path of life. Lead me in the way of everlasting life.

There's one thing I don't want to be deceived about, and that is my eternal destiny. How many, many people are deceived concerning their eternal destiny because they're trusting in the word of some man, they're trusting in the word of some religious leader, some maybe charismatic leader who has a lot of charisma, personal charisma and personal magnetism and whatever these things are.

And they're encouraging people to follow after them, engaging in brainwashing techniques, making zombies out of their followers. And how many people are blindly following them today, thinking, being assured that this is the path of life.

Everybody else is wrong. We're the only ones who have the truth. We're the only ones walking in the light. All of the churches are wrong. They're all lying to you. None of them are telling you the truth.

We're the only ones that have discovered the truth. And people blindly following them. And even within the churches, how many people have come to just trust in the church, church membership or infant baptism, and they're deceived as to their eternal destiny.

Lead me in the way everlasting. I don't want to be fooled on this. I don't want my heart to be deceived on this issue. I want to make sure that I'm in the way everlasting. For there is a way that seems right unto man, but the end of it is death.

I don't want to be in that way, thinking that I'm right and ending up in the pit. Psalm 140, another psalm of David, Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man. Preserve me from the violent man, which imagine mischiefs in their heart.

Continually are they gathered together for war. They've sharpened their tongues like a serpent. Adder's poison is under their lips. Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked. Preserve me from the violent man who have purposed to overthrow my goings.

The proud have hit a snare for me. The cords, they have spread a net by the wayside. They have set traps for me. Jinns as traps. I said unto the Lord, Thou art my God. Hear my voice of my supplications, O Lord.

O God, the Lord, the strength of my salvation, Thou hast covered my head in the day of battle. Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked. Further not His wicked device, lest they exalt themselves as for the head of those that come past me about.

Let the mischief of their own lips cover them. Let burning coals fall upon them. Let them be cast into the fire, into deep pits that they rise not up again. Let not an evil speaker be established in the earth.

Evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him. I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted and the right of the poor. I'm glad I'm not David's enemy. He really asked God to take care of them.

But it is so typical of so many of the psalms of David where his concern is about those who have conspired against him. David is the type of man that you either loved very much or hated very much. It was hard to just have a passive attitude towards David.

He had many deep, loyal friends, but he also had many avowed enemies that were seeking to destroy him. And so he seems to be constantly asking God for help against his enemies and then asking God's judgment, really, to fall upon the head of his enemies.

Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto Thy name. The upright shall dwell in Thy presence. Psalm 141 is another psalm of David. Lord, I cry unto Thee. Make haste unto me. Give ear unto my voice when I cry unto Thee.

Psalms 141–143: Prayer, Correction, and Dependence on God

Let my prayer be set forth before Thee as incense and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. Now here, David actually begins to spiritualize the offerings of the Old Testament as he asks the Lord, let my prayer be set before Thee as incense.

Now, incense being offered in the tabernacle and later in the temple, were actually symbols of prayer. The smoke of the incense, the sweet odor arising, symbolized the prayers of the saints coming before God as a sweet-smelling incense.

In other words, God's loving and enjoying the prayers of the saints. In the New Testament, the book of Revelation 5, when Jesus takes the scroll out of the right hand of the Father who sits upon the throne, the twenty-four elders come forth with little golden vials, bowls, that are filled with odors, the Scripture said, which are the prayers of the saints and they offer them before the throne of God.

So much as you have in the Old Testament, the priests offering the incense in these little bowls, swinging from the chain before the altar. So we have it happening in heaven, which of course is correct because the earthly tabernacle was a model of the heavenly scene.

God over and over said to Moses, now be sure you make it exactly according to the specifications that I gave you, because the Lord declared this is a model of heaven. So the priest offering the little golden bowl with the incense and the smoke before the altar of the Lord, the mercy seat there, is symbolic of what happens in heaven as the twenty-four elders offer their incense before the throne.

So David is saying, now let my prayer, Lord, just be as incense unto Thee. And the lifting up of my hands, let it be just like an evening sacrifice. It's just the lifting up of my hands in worship unto the Lord.

Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth and keep the door of my lips. Oh, yes, Lord, please. How many things I've said would I have liked to have taken them back before they were even completely out of my mouth.

But once spoken, there's no retracting. So God set a watch before my mouth. Keep the door of my lips. Incline not my heart to any evil thing to practice wicked works with men that work iniquity. And let me not eat of their dainties.