Create in Me a Clean Heart: The 40-Day Challenge (Psalms)Sample

Ask God to Remove Every Desire for Evil

Psalm 141

The Amish are known for their simple living, plain clothing, pacifism, and slowness to adapt to modern technology. They believe that evil is everywhere, and to counter this problem, they created their own community to not compromise their faith and belief. But no matter what they do, evil continues to exist. There is no way of escaping it, even within their community.

In Psalm 141, we see David write a prayerful Psalm because he knows evil is all around. There is no way to escape it. The psalm begins with a plea to the Lord to hear his prayer. We see his earnest desire to flee from evil. As the Psalm continues, we see phrases like ‘set a guard’, ‘keep watch’, ‘do not allow’- words that connote defense. As David comes face to face with evil, he is aware of the potency of evil. That leads him to prepare his heart for the possibilities of what evil could do, and to entrust them to the Holy One. In verses 5-7, the prayer then turns to the situations that he was facing. But at the end of the psalm, David resigns himself to the fact that he cannot escape evil, and he turns to the One in whom He can trust. He fixes his eyes on the One who can deliver him from evil. In the same way, may we spend today in prayer, in recognition of the presence of evil. May we humble ourselves - and entrust our days to the One who can deliver us from our desires that are evil.