Psalm 5: 1 – 10
How Much Do You Love Jesus?
1 Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation. 2 Give heed to the voice of my cry, my King and my God, for to You I will pray. My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; In the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up. For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with You. 5 The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; You hate all workers of iniquity. 6 You shall destroy those who speak falsehood; The LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. 7 But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy; In fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple. 8 Lead me, O LORD, in Your righteousness because of my enemies; Make Your way straight before my face. 9 For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; Their inward part is destruction; Their throat is an open tomb; They flatter with their tongue. 10 Pronounce them guilty, O God! Let them fall by their own counsels; Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions, For they have rebelled against You. 11 But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; Let those also who love Your name be joyful in You. 12 For You, O LORD, will bless the righteous; With favor You will surround him as with a shield.
Things are never the way you would want them to be. If you like someone, you like to talk with him or her as often as you can. You like to spend your valuable time with them, do you not? It seems that we wind up spending the most time being with and talking with people we do not like. What a world?
Interacting with Christians is no different. In some churches they try to guilt you into giving or serving in some ministry. I have even had some come up to me and ask, ‘How much do you love Jesus?’ If I asked you this question, what would be your response? Our Great Master and King Is not in need of our money, nor does He need us to serve Him in some compactly. He loves us and He wants to have a personal relationship with us. He wants to spend time and talk with us. So, how do we accomplish this with Him? We succeed by praying and reading His Word.
If we did our own inventory and analyzed our prayer and personal bible time, we should be ashamed. This is a self test. How much time do you spend with the One Whom you proclaim that you love and appreciate? How much time do you watch television? Now compare the two! Pretty bad, huh? I am convicted how about you? So, now is the time to renew our love and devotion Who gave His life for us. Are you with me?
This might seem strange to hear, but the first thing we need to understand is how to pray. Think of these possibilities;
1. We wake up and say hello to God and ask Him to bless our day. At night we tell Him thanks for his help.
2. We come together in prayer and seek Him as the Great ‘Santa’. We bring Him our daily grocery list of needs and wants.
3. We chant the same words
4. You enter into His Presence with praise and thanksgiving.
Does the last one seem out of place? Am I getting through to anyone with these remarks?
Some of you may be wondering what I mean by the term ‘chanting the same words’. How about the ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ for example? Are the verses in chapter 11 of the Gospel of Luke, the Lord ’s Prayer? - No, not at all. You see like us the disciples went to the Lord and asked Him how to pray. Look at what it says, “5 “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly 7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. 9 In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours’ is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen 14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Is there anything wrong with saying the words verbatim as a prayer?- No, not at all. The problem exists when we just spit out the words with no thought as to what we are saying. Let me be more specific. I use to go to confession. The priest would tell me to say 10 Hail Mary’s and 10 Our Fathers after I confessed my sins to him. I think I was able to spit out the 20 in about three minutes. There was no heart response only the fulfilling of the priest’s sentence on me. Do you understand?
So, why am I mentioning all this when we are looking at the book of Psalms? Well, for one thing you can add the Psalms as your personal prayers. You may want to say the same words that are printed in you bible or you may want to pray the significant points of the Psalm David is presenting. What do I mean by this? Well for example in Psalm 5 David brings out in his prayer 5 significant areas.
First of all in verses one through three his plea is to be heard. Look at what he says,
1 Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation. 2 Give heed to the voice of my cry, my King and my God, for to You I will pray. My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; In the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up.
David asks Adoni Yahweh, our Father God to hear his prayer. He asks that God will respond to his words, and consider his thoughts, and addresses Him as both his King and his God. He exults in His majesty and power, and thus declares that He is the One to whom he prays and Who is able to do what he asks. He points out that his prayer is not haphazard. It is ordered and disciplined. Furthermore he wants God to know that he will be on the watch for His response and direction and on the watch so that he does not sin. It is a prayer for use in the morning as a person prepares for a new day. He begins each day with prayer, for he recognizes that he must go into the day with God.
We also should begin each day with prayer.
Take a look again at these words, ‘O LORD; In the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up.’ If you have ever seen Muslims pray what do they do? You might respond that they look like they have their own rugs where they kneel down and sometimes prostrate themselves. This is correct. Do you know that they always face a certain direction? Which one? The answer is East.
Where is our God, the only living God at? We find out from these verses;
. Isaiah 14: 13, “For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north;
. 2 Corinthians 12: 2 “know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven.
What do we find out here? Well, Satan gives us a little fact about where our Jehovah Sabbaoth – The Lord of Hosts resides. It is in the north. The apostle Paul gives us more detail to let us know that our Great God’s Throne is in the ‘3rd Heaven. Wow!
We should look up when we pray, not down. What about lifting up your hands? There is nothing wrong with doing that. The scripture encourages us to lift up holy hands unto the Lord. Someone told me when I hold up my hands with the palms facing me I am reflecting back to God the Glory due His Holy Name and when I lift up my hands with my hands wide open, I am asking God to fill them. Sounds like nice advice to me.
The second issue that David wants to bring before Yahweh Elohe Yisrael, The Lord God of Israel, is the description of those whom God rejects.
4 For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with You. 5 The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; You hate all workers of iniquity. 6 You shall destroy those who speak falsehood; The LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
This is why David is on the watch, so that he will not be like these. His words make clear to himself and others like us who will study his words about Who God Is and the kind of people that God rejects. God hates wickedness, evil, the arrogant, workers of iniquity, men of deceit and bloodthirstiness.
We have to also understand that David is talking about his own countrymen is suggested by the lack of reference to the nations, and by the fact that they cannot ‘stand in His sight’, that is, enter the Temple in true worship expecting acceptance. Thus this is a dreadful indictment on the nation and its condition.
Sadly you can look around the church Sanctuary and find the same type of people. They come in and sing the songs and hear the word of God taught and leave and do all the things God hates. My question is why they even bother to come to church? Some think that if they show up each week then God Is somehow going to be pleased with them. How stupid is that?
Look at these words again, ‘nor shall evil dwell with You. 5 The boastful shall not stand in Your sight’ To dwell meant to sojourn or stay as a guest. Thus none who are evil can spend time in His presence and be made welcome. Nor can the arrogant stand in His sight. That is, those who are presumptuous, who assume that the approach to God can be made lightly and without proper reverence. They cannot come into His court to stand before Him. They may think that they can for they arrogantly sin against Him, and then equally arrogantly assume that it does not matter. But David tells us that it does matter. They may stand in the temple but they will not stand in His sight. If we would seek to know the presence of God we must do away with sin.
David reminds us that ‘You hate all workers of iniquity; you will destroy him who speaks lies, El Roi, The Great God Who Sees, abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.’ The worker of iniquity is the one who practices what is morally worthless and wrong; he acts contrary to God’s Instruction. Such are ‘hated’ by God because He is a holy God and must recoil from sin. Speaking lies and being a man of deceit are also spoken against in the strongest terms. Deceit is constantly condemned throughout the Bible. So men of violence and deceit are ‘abhorred’ by Him. Notice the strength of the verbs which reveal God’s attitude; hated, destroyed, abhorred. Sin is no light matter.
David’s third interest is a prayer for God to lead him.
7 But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy; In fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple. 8 Lead me, O LORD, in Your righteousness because of my enemies; Make Your way straight before my face.
David becomes aware of the greatness and holiness of God, but is also aware of His grace and mercy revealed through the covenant between God and His people, a covenant which has provided a way of forgiveness for all sin through the shedding of blood.
This is why we too can come with such confidence. It is not because we are such good people, but because we come to One Who loved us and gave Himself for us, and it is in Him that we find a welcome. It is because He has made a new and living way for us through His flesh as we read in the book of Hebrews chapter 10, “19 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and having a High Priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”
We are able to come to Adoni Yahweh at any time as we come through Him - The Perfectos of our Souls.
Remember that David had Saul and others out to kill him. He knew and so should we know that God can cover all. Look at what Psalm 139 says, “You have hedged me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me.’ That’s the kind of protection we all need.
David asks God, because He is righteous, to lead him, in view of those who lie in wait for him. He needs protection from those who are seeking to entrap him, and asks that God will show him the way ahead, and will keep his path level so that he will not stumble or fall on it.
Fourth on David’s prayer list is his reflection again about his enemies. He lists accusations against his enemies which he says are also God’s enemies.
9 For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; Their inward part is destruction; Their throat is an open tomb; They flatter with their tongue. 10 Pronounce them guilty, O God! Let them fall by their own counsels; Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions, for they have rebelled against You.
David declares that what these people say cannot be trusted, that their inner thoughts plan destruction for others, and especially for the people of God, that their throat is like an open grave, that is, what they say may result in death for the unfortunate. And yet at the same time they speak smooth words with their tongues. They are totally untrustworthy.
What really upsets him is that these people have rebelled against God Himself, and so He calls for God to deal with them because they have rebelled against Him. Let Johovah Elyon – The Lord Most High - recognize their guilt, and he pleads, ‘hold them to it.’ Let El Shaddai – Almighty God - bring their own clever schemes down on their own head. They are unrepentant rebels against His Law, and they cause great problems for His people. Let them therefore reap what they have sown.
Some people feel bad that they have similar thoughts about how God should deal with certain evil people. I don’t! If it wasn’t for our Precious Holy Spirit hindering evil from totally breaking out you can’t even imagine how rotten mankind can be.
As David considered how innocent people are hurt by evil people he places on his prayer list a fifth category. David prays for the righteous.
11 But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; Let those also who love Your name be joyful in You. 12 For You, O LORD, will bless the righteous; With favor You will surround him as with a shield.
David is talking about those whose trust is in Adoni Yahweh, Father God, and His covenant, those who love His name, rejoice, and are aware that He is defending them. He asks for His Mercy to let them shout for joy because they know that He will bless the righteous. So His defense of them and His blessing are causes of their great rejoicing. They know that the huge shield of His favor protects and watches over them.
Please take note of David’s comment of ‘Your name.’ With just these two words, David is addressing our Holy Creator’s Being, Attributes and Character. They and we love Him for what He is, the Deliverer of His people.
So the psalm began with confidence and ends with triumph, triumph in the God of the righteous. Triumph in the name of the One Whose Being, Attributes and Character they know so well, the One in Whom they can put their trust without any fear of being confounded.
So, as we end I encourage you to take some time this week and pray this prayer just as it is written and then also take some time and we see how David organized his prayer and put your own thoughts into each section that we gave you. If you do this on a regular basis for other Psalms I know that you will be richly blessed.
