Psalms 140 – 142
Verse 140:1 shows how we must pray constantly for safety:
Deliver me, O LORD, from evil men;
preserve me from violent men.
This is the most obvious group one needs protection from in the world. They can immediately destroy your world and make things miserable, so protection from the thief, the assaulter or the murder is important. Rather than focus of the obvious maybe we should start praying for protection from the not so obvious. Those subtitle little changes that make evil seem hip or cool. Not so long ago, vampires, werewolves and demons were evil, but now with shows like Twilight they are no longer portraying someone you want protected from but rather someone you want to be.
This is the “violent men” you really want the true protection from, since they subtly erode your belief systems. They come in and make evil seem benign and hip. The virtues of following evil are fame and fortune in this world since they make the end seem like that, the end. No mention of an afterlife or anything that may happen to you soul once you die, because these “violent men” are lulling you into a false sense of security with no God. Ironically their “god” is real and they are just following orders for the sheep that follow.
Verse 141:1 is where David asks God for his ear:
O LORD, I call upon you; hasten to me!
Give ear to my voice when I call to you!
This implies that God is not listening all the time, which I have to disagree. God is always listening, He is not always responding when we expect a response. There is a scene in Bruce Almighty, where Morgan Freeman play God asks Bruce to pray. He struggles for the prayer until he gets to his heart and hits the mark. God is hears all our prayers, it’s just often they are too vague or not his will to warrant a response.
Case in point is how many have prayed for a lottery win? Millions each week pray and feel like God is listening with a deaf ear. If He would just give us his good ear we would be swimming in money. When in reality we have verse after verse that warns us about the evils of money. Not that money is evil, but what we do with it afterwards is evil.
Science has actually gotten involved and researched the subject if money can buy happiness and it came with interesting results. I have no idea how much was spent on this research, but they found that if you become self-indulgent money buys temporary happiness, but if you give it provides joy for a longer time. Sharing the happiness brings longer term joy than just buying the Ferrari. So this study proves what the Bible has been saying for thousands of years.
Verse 142:5 is something we all need to consider:
I cry to you, O LORD;
I say, “You are my refuge,
my portion in the land of the living.
A friend wrote a song titled My Refuge which signs the meaning of this verse. We need to sometimes go to God for protection and refuge. In this Psalm David in hiding in a cave from Saul who is trying to kill him. I pray you never have to hide from that kind of fear, but often we need Him for life. Relationship or financial problems are the most common. God will not fix them always, but He will provide comfort and safety to get through them. Saul did not stop pursing David, but David was spared when Saul was in the cave with him.