Psalm 5 — God’s Way before our Face
For the Chief Musician; with the Nehiloth. A Psalm of David.
1 Give ear to my words, O LORD,
Consider my meditation.
2 Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God:
For unto thee do I pray.
3 O LORD, in the morning shalt thou hear my voice;
In the morning will I order my prayer unto thee, and will keep watch.
4 For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness:
Evil shall not sojourn with thee.
5 The arrogant shall not stand in thy sight:
Thou hatest all workers of iniquity.
6 Thou shalt destroy them that speak lies:
The LORD abhorreth the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
7 But as for me, in the multitude of thy lovingkindness will I come into thy house:
In thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.
8 Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies;
Make thy way plain before my face.
9 For there is no faithfulness in their mouth;
Their inward part is very wickedness:
Their throat is an open sepulchre;
They flatter with their tongue.
10 Hold them guilty, O God;
Let them fall by their own counsels:
Thrust them out in the multitude of their transgressions;
For they have rebelled against thee.
11 But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice,
Let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them:
Let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.
12 For thou wilt bless the righteous;
O LORD, thou wilt compass him with favour as with a shield.
As with many psalms, we see a strong need for God to hear our words and heart when we pray. David, a leader in the midst of trouble, needed answers and help. He needed support and strength. So, too, to we. When we read these petitions for help we must work to let them change our hearts and build our faith. Over time, as we read these psalms, David's confidence can become our confidence, his faith our faith. Let the psalms work with your faith.
What is the message of David's prayer? Can you tell what his petition is about? I see a lot about the wicked and the righteous. They are separated before David's eyes - and before his Lord. The creator of the cosmos and the founder of faith takes no pleasure in wickedness. Thus, the arrogant will not stand for long and the liars shall be destroyed. It is a psalm about the need for justice and for a God to conduct the work of justice. A prayer of holding the wicked guilty so that the righteous may come into God's house by his mercy and love.
Here is an important part for all of us to remember as we read and pray this psalm: do we ourselves worship toward God's house in fear? David's psalm is not only of the need for judgment; it also acknowledges the way and heart of the righteous. If we want these psalms to work on our faith, then we must let them work through and through. It is not enough to look out from stained glass windows and point fingers. We must point out our own faults and faithfully pray about them, too. While verse 9 reveals that the wicked ones have no faithfulness in their mouths, does it reveal the lack of faithfulness in my own word? Do I myself drop promises and lob words of scorn at others. For shame! Beware the prayer to hold others guilty - for we will be held judged, too. Let us, instead, make God's way plain before our faces and follow it diligently.