Psalm 5

Give ear to my words, O LORD,Consider my groaning. 2 Heed the sound of my cry for help, my King and my God,For to You I pray. 3 In the morning, O LORD, You will hear my voice;In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch. 4 For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness;No evil dwells with You. 5 The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes;You hate all who do iniquity. 6 You destroy those who speak falsehood;The LORD abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit. 7 But as for me, by Your abundant lovingkindness I will enter Your house,At Your holy temple I will bow in reverence for You. 8 O LORD, lead me in Your righteousness because of my foes;Make Your way straight before me. 9 There is nothing reliable in what they say;Their inward part is destruction itself.Their throat is an open grave;They flatter with their tongue. 10 Hold them guilty, O God;By their own devices let them fall!In the multitude of their transgressions thrust them out,For they are rebellious against You. 11 But let all who take refuge in You be glad,Let them ever sing for joy;And may You shelter them,That those who love Your name may exult in You. 12 For it is You who blesses the righteous man, O LORD,You surround him with favor as with a shield

Psalm 5 is a rich passage, written by the hand of David, aided by the Holy Spirit; all for the glory of the Father. Take a moment and read all 12 verses. After reading these verses, I invite you to step into His presence in prayer. After praying, take a look at these verses with me.

The Psalm begins with an intentional cry for the Father’s attention. It’s not the same trite words that are prayed daily. These words are deep, rich, and full of longing for the Father’s attention. Now, compare verses 1-3 to your prayer. How did you begin? Where did you start. Most people start with the traditional, “Father, thank you for this day…” There is really nothing wrong with that, but do you come to Him with that statement, with a longing for Him to “Give ear to my words” (verse 1)? Or, do you beg for Him to, “Give attention to the sound of my cry” (verse 2)? I believe often times, if you are like me, I fall into a routine of prayer that often times loses its focus on the joy of wanting the Father’s attention. I love verse 3 and how it paints to us a beautiful picture of morning devotionals. I love how the Psalmist writes about how the Lord hears his voice in the morning. Did you notice that the Psalmist (on top of waking up early, I imagine) brings a sacrifice to the Lord…for the Lord to watch? I believe the heart behind that statement is the Psalmist wanting the Lord to find pleasure in His obedience. I believe that since Christ eliminated the sacrificial system, by being the ultimate sacrifice (read Hebrews 10), then we inherit the pleasure of the Father by coming to Him through the authority of His Son. We receive His pleasure, in the morning, by acknowledging the Son’s sacrifice and giving glory to the Father for giving us His graceful attention.

Verses 4-6 reveal to us the seriousness of sin in the sight of the Holy One. I find comfort in these verses, for I am constantly at odds with the sins of this world and how it pulls down people. This morning, I had coffee with a dear friend of mine. During our talk, I was reminded of the toughness of ministry and how demanding it is on the day to day scheme of life. However, I’m reminded that the errors and sins of others should not alter my life or make me sorrowful, for ultimately, those sins are done against the Father…not just against me. These verses should remind us as His adopted children, to confess daily; knowing how sin is viewed in the sight of the Holy Lord God Almighty.

Verses 7-8 are so inspiring. Here, we see the Psalmist write about how the steadfast love of God draws Him to enter into His presence, His house. I’m reminded of 1 John 4 in this passage; how “in this is love, not that we loved him, but that He loved us…”(1 John 4:10). I believe we often times forget the fact that our privilege of prayer, our privilege of worship is drawn by the steadfast love of our Father in Heaven.

Verses 9-10 again tie in with verses 4-6, in that we are so in love with the Lord and find our delight in Him, that what is sin to Him and evil in His sight, becomes evil in our sight. In other words, when I see someone take His name in vain, live by the flesh and His holiness is ridiculed; I can understand verse 10. Look here and compare it to Psalm 51:4. It states clearly that the sins were against…HIM. So, when someone spreads a rumor about me that isn’t necessary true, not only are they sinning against me…they are sinning against my Father in Heaven. I truly believe what makes His grace amazing is that in our wretchedness (because all of us sin), He pours His steadfast love over us (going back to verse 7). Isn’t He wonderful?

Verses 11-12 close out this Psalm so beautifully. I love verse 11. Compare this verse to Psalm 34:8. We find happiness, joy, etc…when we take refuge in Him. We can rejoice, truly, knowing that we want Him and nothing else. This leads us to receive His blessing. I believe those that Jesus was preaching to in Matthew 5:3-12 were given those beatitudes, because they were wanting to find their joy and rejoice in Christ alone. Blessings are poured out when God’s redeemed people rejoice in Him daily and long for His name to be known. We are covered with His righteousness alone, we are blessed by His steadfast love, we are privileged that He would give us His attention. Again, please allow me to ask: Isn’t He wonderful?