Asking the Lord to “control” one’s life!
That’s EXACTLY what Psalm 28:3 does. A prayer of “protection,” really, directed straight to the Lord God Almighty.
“Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts.” Psalm 28:3
This petition is about the same as Jesus’ Words in “The Model Prayer,” sometimes called ‘The Lord’s Prayer” … “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Matthew 6:13
And Psalm 28:3 is certainly practicing Proverbs 3:5-6. “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.”
Wow!
Everything in our verse “hinges” on the opening verb. “Draw me” not away. In Hebrew it’s spelled “mashak” It sometimes means “to drag.” In Genesis 37:28 the verb is used when Joseph’s brothers “drew” him “up” out of a pit, selling him to the Ishmeelites who subsequently took him to Egypt.
Here’s an interesting use of “mashak.” Exodus 12:21. “Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out (“mashak”) and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover.” A lamb selected, to be killed as a substitute for a human being!
In Deuteronomy 21:3 the verb is used of a heifer (cow) which has never ploughed in the field, “hath not drawn the yoke.”
But I like Judges 4:6 best, of the examples I’ve seen. “And she (Deborah) sent and called Barak and said unto him, Hath not the LORD God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw (“mashak”)toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun? To go to war. Here “Mashak” obviously means “to lead” along a certain path.”
That’s surely how our Text means it, Psalm 28:3. “Lord … lead me not away with the wicked!” Again I must say, this is identical to Jesus’ thought, “Lead us not into temptation!”
Our verse, prayer again: “Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts.”
The “wicked” here are the violent and active practitioners of ungodliness. Malignantly wicked. “Rasha” in Hebrew.
And the “workers” are those who “practice” iniquity. Doing wrong habitually! And the noun for “iniquity” is “aven,” which really means “to pant,” doing something so energetically that one has to breathe hard to accomplish the task!
Also note that these people from whom the Psalmist so keenly wants “deliverance” are liars, deceivers! The “speak peace” but have “mischief” in their hearts. The verb here is a form of “shalom” in Hebrew. They ACT like they want the very best for you … but really want the very worst! The noun “mischief” is “ra,” another form of the word for “wickedness,” yet still the adamant, virulent kind. You can see the similarity between “rasha” (“wicked”) and “ra” (“mischief”) in this single verse.
This is a prayer that still has applicability today!
“Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts.”
Let’s pray it.
This one complex sentence is worth the entire Psalm!
“Life changing,” I would call it.
— Dr. Mike Bagwell