Open to Correction
Confrontation is never comfortable. It can be especially unpleasant when that confrontation rubs up against our egos. Yet we find David both admitting the good and asking that he both receive it and accept it well.
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.
Yet my prayer is continually against their evil deeds.
Psalm 141:5
Correction can often feel like a strike. However, David basically says “there are times when I’d deserve it!” This part reminds me of the movies where a person has gone hysterical and someone slaps them and yells “snap out of it!”
There are times in life (and a king would have many of them) where you’re headed off the rails chasing some pleasure that is wicked. Having someone smack you back to reality is a kindness, because it is better to deal with the hard truth than an easy lie.
Sometimes we need a good rebuke. David says it is an oil for his head. Samuel was sent by God to anoint David with oil as a sign he would become king after Saul. A rebuke can be preparation for important things.
Not Just “Open”
It’s important to point out how he contrasts the acceptance he has for even rebukes from the righteous with his activity against those who practice evil. While he is open to correction, he’s not just soaking in the opinions of everyone. This presupposes that concepts of right and wrong, good and evil, aren’t something that needs to be puzzled out or debated among men.
Rather, God’s standards of good and evil are understood apart from debate. David longs to be open to the rebuke that takes him from sin to righteousness, but prays to God continuously against the deeds of evil being done in Israel. He’s not looking for a person to tell him what is right or wrong. Rather, he longs for good men to point out when he’s doing what he knows is wrong.
Necessary Standard
While our culture praises those who are easily manipulated by whatever latest, lofty ideas are being passed around, not discerning and having not foundation for discerning how one idea is better than another, God’s people must have his character as the standard for determining good and evil. Maturity is necessary to prevent us from being easily swayed.
so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
Ephesians 4:13
The difference between a righteous rebuke and a wicked manipulation is only as easy to identify as one knows the will and character of God. When we know him, we know the perfect standard against which all corrections can be considered. Also, we shouldn’t be afraid to come to God against the working of evil.
While we need to be ready to admit to our own sin, we shouldn’t be afraid to pray against the sins of others either. It’s not wrong judgement to be against sin, even when it is not our own. As I wrote about here, these two parts are both necessary to be doing good for others. We must be willing to correct our own faults, but not only to have a pious personal life. Instead, it is also to prepare us to better help our brothers and sisters resist the sin in their lives.
We accept rebukes first to honor God with our lives, but also to anoint us for the work of praying against the wicked deeds that are done by others.
