Psalm 5:1-12
“Give ear to my words, O Lord; consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray. O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch. For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house. I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you. Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me. For there is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue. Make them bear their guilt, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out, for they have rebelled against you. But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you. For you bless the righteous, O Lord; you cover him with favor as with a shield.”
David comes to God…. to his God, to his King! We see the intimacy of his relationship to God as he acknowledges and recognizes He is King! David comes to God with these requests:
* Give ear to……….
* Consider…………
* Give attention……
He doesn’t take his request elsewhere —- “to YOU do I pray!”
And he tells us why he comes —- “O Lord, in the morning You hear my voice,”
And he tells us what his role is as he comes —- he prepares a sacrifice; and he watches
I think about what that would look like for me…… In the morning…. a morning perhaps just like this one…. coming to the Lord, to my King and my God, knowing He will hear my voice.
I’m sorta used to people not exactly hearing me. I can be confusing, scattered, and somewhat all over the place. And yet my King and my God does hear me. He’s willing to. And He understands me. He understands me better than I understand me. I come to Him freely, feeling invited, feeling welcomed.
Thank You, Lord, for receiving me. I feel like there’s so much to know — You’re so much grander and bigger than the box I can tend to try to put You in within my mental definements. Yet You’re so much more. Infinitely, abundantly more. I guess I just ask for You to show me what You want me to know. As I read Your Word, help me to understand it to the degree that You want me to see You.
David prepared a sacrifice for You. Always another sacrifice, as he looked forward, …..knowing there must be blood shed, a life given, sin atoned. And I look back…. knowing YOU prepared a sacrifice for me ….and for David, too, of course! It’s just that David was looking toward the Messiah coming and I’m looking back …. back to Jesus, the perfect lamb who gave His life to atone for sin. Thank You, Lord, for Your great love. May I prepare my heart and my mind and bring THOSE to you ….in surrender, worship, and praise, thanking You for Your great gift.
David watched. Lord, help me to be attentive, mindful, and willing to wait. Calm my sense of immediacy and urgency. Help me to watch and trust. V.4-6 give a glimpse to perhaps what David was dealing with — he names it and then records Your take on it…..
* wickedness — You have no delight in it
* evil — it may not dwell with You
* Boastful — cannot stand before Your eyes
* Evil doers — You hate
* liars — You destroy
* blood thirsty/deceitful men — You abhor
Lord, help me, as all the above are still rampant in 2020. But You see, You hear, You handle. I watch. I wait. I trust.
In these first 6 verses David has recognized You as his God and King…. and continuing on in v. 7, he sees You as a God of steadfast love. In v. 8 You are righteous and Your way is straight. But then at v.9 it’s like his thoughts shift, as if he becomes somewhat of a list-maker! I love a list! It helps me categorize my thoughts! Well in David’s list, he seems to spell out 2 different types of people…… his enemies versus those who take refuge in You:
David’s enemies:
* no truth in their mouths
* inmost self is destruction
* throat an open grave
* flatter with their tongue
* abundant transgressions
* rebellion
Those who take refuge in God:
* rejoice
* sing for joy
* love God’s name
* bow down
* fear God’s name
I look at these 2 lists and think…. who would want to be like “the enemy” group? Do we even want to know or be around them? Obviously David didn’t! He calls, in an imprecatory way, for judgement against them! ……make them bear their guilt, let them fall by their own counsels, cast them out!!!!
By contrast, those who love God’s name enter His house, bow down, fear God. They seek God’s straight paths. They look to Him as refuge.
End result:
* He spreads His protection over them
* He blesses them
* He covers them with favor
In Tim Keller’s devotional book on the Psalms “The Songs of Jesus”, he brought out such a good point! We do all have enemies, and we do pray for protection against them. But we need to remember our own sin, too! No doubt I’m probably somebody else’s enemy!! But as David looked to the Temple, the place where sin is atoned, I look to Christ… He was the final sacrifice, the ultimate sacrifice, the final Temple (John 2:20-21)…. He enabled me to be forgiven. Thank You, Lord for Your Grace! We all were once Your enemies….. it’s only thru Your grace that we are received into Your favor.
Life is such a dance…… and within the Psalms we get a picture of life being danced out! David starts well, moving gently to the rhythm of “God hears…I watch”. But the music of life swells, as it often does…. rising up within the realm of life’s muck and mire, sin and brokenness. And within such, there can be a propensity (because of our own brokenness) to want to LEAD!!! But that isn’t my place…… v.8 Lead me, O Lord, in Your righteousness…..” David had enemies — we have enemies. But I do well to not so much “fear them”, but rather “fear YOU”!
v7 But I, through the abundance of Your steadfast love, will enter Your house. I will bow down toward Your holy temple in the fear of You.
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