Psalm 5
Text of Psalm 5
1 Give ear to my words, O Lord; consider my groaning. 2 Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray. 3 O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch. 4 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. 5 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. 6 You destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. 7 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. 8 Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me. 9 For there is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue. 10 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. 11 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. 12 For you bless the righteous, O Lord; you cover him with favor as with a shield.
What to Notice
David pleads with God to hear his prayer and to consider his prayer. God promises to hear our prayers, but David goes further and asks God to consider or weigh the argument and content of his prayer. Many times, we think the shape or form our prayers take is unimportant, believing that the fact of our praying is sufficient. We have learned the falsehood that authentic prayer will not follow considered arguments. The Psalms and other prayers throughout the Scriptures, including Jesus' prayers, belie the inadequacy of such a separation. We ought to pray. We ought to pray well, with clear thoughts and arguments that accord with the Scriptures.
David explicitly brings the content of Psalms 1 & 2 before God's face in this prayer. He isn't simply reacting to the direness of his situation (the diabolical pursuit of Absalom) but also meditating on the character of God and setting those before God as an argument. God already knows his character and David's situation, but in prayer, we are to ground our requests before God on the foundation of his nature and words. We "remind" God of what he has said and what he has promised.
Notice David's expression of loyalty- He speaks not merely to God the Lord but to My God and My King. An allegiance to God our King is at the heart of all Christian living. He is not simply a generic king. He is the universal king *and* he is specifically our God and our King. The truth that we are God's royal possession should be a great comfort for all God's people. As David slept in Psalm 4, trusting in the provision of God to keep watch over him, he awakes to face the troubles of his day by rehearsing the character and mercy of God and petitioning God to act in accordance.
In Psalm 5, David describes the wicked's standing before God and what they seek to do. David emphasizes their standing before God in vv. 4-7. God does not delight in their wickedness. Evil cannot live in communion with God. God destroys those who say lies - who do not speak the truth. God *abhors* - weighty word - the bloodthirsty and the deceiver. These are hard words, and we should clarify who these people are. In our pluralistic age, evil has taken on a far more pliable definition than in the Scriptures. The evil are those who reject God and his law.
The boastful are the proud who define for themselves what is good and evil, what is beautiful and what is ugly, what is true and what is false. They do not acknowledge God. The liar is not simply the one who knowingly declares something untrue; it is the one who speaks what is objectively wrong. And note especially the terrible word "abhor" - We do not like to consider that God abhors anything, but here God abhors those thirsty for blood and those who use words to deceive others. God is just. God is good. God hates what is hateful. And then in vv. 8-9, he describes what the wicked do: They seek to make the path of the righteous crooked. This is a metaphor for the introduction of moral confusion. They make what ought to be plain to the Christian unclear. Good and evil get all muddled up. The wicked deceive. The wicked's desires are destruction, and their lying words lead to death. And the whole thing is covered over with flattery.
Bloodlust and deception are the two things God is said to abhor in this Psalm. Bloodlust is something different than mere killing. It involves a love for killing and a delight in causing suffering. The images that have circulated since the October 7 terrorist attack from Hamas are illustrative of this thing that God abhors. These men targeted the killing of men, women, and children, as well as the elderly. It was their very purpose and delight to kill in a horrific manner. Israel’s response has resulted in many civilian deaths in Gaza, but it has not been their delight or goal. One is making war on their national enemies. The other is lusting after the blood of innocents. The moral confusion that has erupted in cities all over the globe in the last several weeks is a further testament to how easily we are deceived.
In vv. 8-12, David gives an account of God's mercy. Everything David asks is grounded in the "steadfast love" or the covenant love of God. This steadfast love leads him to worship and ask God to make his paths straight. David turns to God for moral and tactical guidance as the wicked lie, deceive, and obfuscate - covering it all in flattery. He does not trust his own discernment to know what He ought to do. David asks God. He turns to God's word. David ends by holding out the promise of salvation for all those who take refuge in God and those who love him. He asks God to defeat the wicked by causing them to fall under their own counsels - their anti-wisdom. Those who take refuge in God, finding their salvation in him, and those who love him will sing for joy. They will rejoice in God. These verses have a marvelous chain: The Covenant love of God leads his people to worship. The covenant love of God saves God's people from their enemies' attempts to deceive and lead them into sin and death. The Covenant Love of God leads his people to take refuge in him - to turn to him and him alone for mercy and salvation. The Covenant love of God leads God's people to joy. And finally, the Covenant Love of God leads his people to *exult*. This is no quietist salvation - but a salvation marked by singing and the joyful and public rejoicing in the supremacy and salvation of God.
How to Live and Sing in the Light of This Psalm
The first 5 Psalms address a great contrast between the righteous and the wicked. Two things about this contrast are sure: this is not a contrast we moderns *like* or attend to very often, and the Bible does not draw the line where we think it should go. And this is one of the great gifts of the Psalms. They, and God through them, attend to many things that we modern Christians don't often consider. They train us to think differently than the spirit of our age. In other words, they do not work as mere expressions of whatever distortions of Christianity have become popular today. Instead, they serve as prayers that reshape our understanding of the world and how we should pray. Psalm 5's contrast between the righteous and the wicked does two things in this Psalm - it serves as a clarifying distinction which is, without question, the most crucial distinction a human being can recognize, and it is clear - making plain what man constantly seeks to muddle and perceive as unclear.
David's accounting of the wicked is not merely about what they are but what they do: They seek to deceive and do so with flattery and lies. Christians tend to be the sweet and gullible sort in our day. Empathy is weaponized to deceive - to make what God has said less clear, more nuanced, and less prone to offend. Morality becomes increasingly muddled through deception and flattery, and so the moral clarity of the Scriptures is questioned or downplayed. But we must listen to God. We must trust his word more than our feelings or fears. May He make your paths straight.
What a terrible and dreadful thing - to be counted among those who are hated by God, who cannot dwell with God, or are abhorred by God. But the solution to this terrible state is fully disclosed in these verses: Worship God. Take Refuge in Jesus. Learn and trust in God's steadfast love demonstrated and given in Jesus. This is the heart of repentance and the good news of the Christian Gospel: All who take refuge in God will rejoice. Turn away from your lies and confusion, and trust God. Believe God. Worship God - and you will sing for joy.