Key Verse: Psalm 141:4 “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.” All throughout Scripture God commands His people to be different. This was the one of the primary reasons as to why Israel in the Old Testament had so many strange laws concerning food and actions. God wanted the peculiarity of His people to attract the gentiles to come and find the one true God. Even though Israel was never the nation God desired them to be God did use them to bring His Son to earth to save all people from their sins! Jesus also established His church, and now the church is the supposed to different! We are supposed to stand out! How can we be different? We can be different by living a righteous life free from consistent sin and the sin of our culture! David understood this reality and as a result he prays several things righteous living. We saw one of these in our last devotional where David prays that God guard His speech. In V.4 David prays for two things that will help him stand out as different and attract the lost world to Jesus! First he prays that God not incline his heart toward anything wicked. Is David saying that God tempts us with sin? Most certainly not, as James reminds us in James 1 that God does not tempt to sin nor is He Himself tempted to sin! It seems that David here, like Jesus in His model prayer, is praying that God would not allow the devil to lead Him into sin and temptation. It is a prayer that God would lead him in the opposite direction. In a sense David is asking that God give him purity of heart which leads to purity of action. Next, David prays that God would not let him eat of the delicacies of the world. The language here takes my mind to Daniel 1 where Daniel purposed in his heart not to eat of the king’s delicacies. The king mentioned there is the king of Babylon who is attempting to feed his new Israelite prisoners food that violates their food laws as he attempts to remake their identity. David, like Daniel, knows and understands that what the world has to offer at times looks good and desirable, but it leads to regret and sin! David is asking that God give Him the strength and guidance to live holy and be different from the world! He is asking for God’s assistance to resist ways of the world! What about you? Are you praying that God gives you the ability to live purely before Him? When we pray and ask God for strength to live right, He gives it to us! Pray and ask God to help you be different today!
