Psalms 141:1-10: a reflection

1LORD, I have called on you. Come to me quickly! Listen to my voice when I call to you. 2Let my prayer be set before you like incense; the lifting up of my hands like the evening sacrifice. 3Set a watch, LORD, before my mouth. Keep the door of my lips. 4Don’t incline my heart to any evil thing, to practice deeds of wickedness with men who work iniquity. Don’t let me eat of their delicacies. 5Let the righteous strike me, it is kindness; let him reprove me, it is like oil on the head; don’t let my head refuse it; Yet my prayer is always against evil deeds. 6Their judges are thrown down by the sides of the rock. They will hear my words, for they are well spoken. 7“As when one plows and breaks up the earth, our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol.” 8For my eyes are on you, LORD, the Lord. I take refuge in you. Don’t leave my soul destitute. 9Keep me from the snare which they have laid for me, from the traps of the workers of iniquity. 10Let the wicked fall together into their own nets while I pass by.

In this prayer, David asks God to guard him from evil, and along the way says something remarkable about correction: 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. David welcomes the reproof of a righteous person as a kindness, even a blessing, oil poured on the head, and asks God to keep him from the pride that would refuse it. He wants to be corrected.

Notice how counterintuitive David's attitude is. Most of us instinctively resist correction; we bristle at rebuke, defend ourselves, resent the one who points out our fault. David does the opposite: he calls the righteous person's reproof a kindness, receives it as gladly as oil poured on the head, and prays not to refuse it. He sees correction not as an attack to be repelled but as a gift to be welcomed, a kindness that helps him become who he should be.

That is a rare and valuable humility to ask God for. To welcome correction, to receive rebuke from a wise and righteous person as a kindness rather than an insult, is one of the hardest and most growth-producing dispositions there is. Our pride wants to refuse it; David prays for a heart that does not. When someone corrects or rebukes you, especially someone righteous and wise, resist the instinct to defend and resent. Try to see it as David did: a kindness, oil for the head. Ask God for the humility to welcome correction, and let it make you wiser and better rather than merely wounding your pride.

Lord, David welcomed the rebuke of a righteous person as a kindness, oil for his head, and prayed not to refuse it. Give me that rare humility. When someone corrects or rebukes me, especially the wise and righteous, keep me from the pride that bristles, defends, and resents. Help me receive correction as a kindness, a gift that helps me grow, rather than an attack to repel. Let me not refuse the oil that would make me wiser and better. Give me a teachable, humble heart.