A Morning Prayer
Psalm 5:1-12
- We’re continuing our study through the book of Psalms, and this week, we’re up to Chapter 5.
- In this chapter, we read a morning prayer by David to God Almighty, full of wonderful truths.
- As I was thinking about morning prayer, my thoughts went back to Iraq.
- While there, the Iraqi’s had a call to prayer five times a day.
- Early in the morning, I could hear their first call to prayer over the loudspeaker in the prison, and it annoyed me so much.
- At the time, it annoyed me because those were my enemies being allowed to pray in captivity, even though if they captured any Americans, they wouldn’t give us that privilege.
- It also annoyed me because it was a horrible sound, almost like someone was just chanting with annoying noises instead of actually praying.
- Today, I look back, and what angers me about it is that Satan had those Muslim’s deceived.
- They genuinely believed they were doing the work of God when they fought against us, and now, as they prayed five times a day, they genuinely believed that they were being good, devout followers of God by praying.
- Yet they weren’t.
- They were wicked men and women who did horrible things to their countrymen and women, and to our troops.
- They were deceived.
- Here in this Psalm, as David prays, he gives us a picture of what the deceived men and women of the world look like.
- They might be fooling men, but they can’t fool God.
- He also gives us a picture of what a righteous man looks like.
- So let’s dig right in and look at three parts of this morning prayer.
I.) David looks up to God- Vs 1-3
- Back in High School, I liked to run, so I joined the Cross-Country team.
- I enjoyed the smell of the outdoors and the beautiful scenery I’d see along the way.
- One of the things I remember is that the longer I ran, the more out of breath I became, and the harder it was to continue running.
- But all along the way, there were people cheering us on to keep going.
- It wasn’t until the last leg of the run, when I could see the finish line, that the real motivation kicked in.
- As long as I looked to that line, and kept telling myself I was almost there, then I wouldn’t have any problem finishing strong.
- So, I kept looking to that line, looking to my coach standing at the end, cheering me on…
- It motivated me to keep running and finish.
- Here in Psalm 5, we find David doing something similar…
- But instead of looking at a physical person or a physical spot like the finish line, he is instead looking up to God first thing in the morning when he wakes up.
- Remember, in the last verse of Chapter 4, he said, “I will lie down in peace and sleep…”
- Now, in chapter 5, David is saying, “You will hear me in the morning, Lord!”
- Chapter 5 might not chronologically be the day after chapter 4, but the Holy Spirit has placed it there for a reason.
- When we belong to Christ and are looking to Him in all areas of our life, we’ll go to sleep in peace with our mind on Him, and we’ll wake up in the morning in peace with our mind and eyes on Him.
- In vs 1 and 2, when David addresses God, notice that he says the same thing 3 different ways…
- Give ear to my words, consider my meditation, give heed to the voice of my cry…
- This is called Hebrew parallelism, repeating the same thing three times…
- So, David is crying out to God, “Please, listen to me!”
- Why repeat it?
- It’s not like God was having trouble hearing, and David needed to get His attention…
- No, it was because David was stressing the importance that our prayers be heard by God.
- He understood that if his prayers were not heard by God, then there was no point to praying, because it would equate to meaningless babble.
- He also is encouraging us to go before God, continually…
- In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus told the story of the importunate friend, who went to his neighbor late at night and kept knocking until his friend answered the door and gave him his request…
- So, both King David, and our Lord Jesus Christ, showed us that it’s okay to be persistent when we’re praying to God.
- He’s not going to zap us with lightning for repeating ourselves and asking Him multiple times for something.
- But notice that David doesn’t demand it from God…
- At the end of vs 2, he says, “My King and my God, to you I will pray…”
- Imagine if David’s attitude was, “I’m the king of Israel, God’s chosen people, and I’m also a man after God’s own heart. God, you must do this for me because of who I am!”
- Of course not, that would be arrogant, and God would not be pleased with a prayer like that.
- So instead, David prays humbly, and acknowledges God as His King and his God.
- Unfortunately, you and I as Christians can sometimes get into the habit of taking prayer for granted, and not really thinking about who it is we’re talking to.
- We’re going before God Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth, and He is listening to us like a loving Father…
- RA Torrey says, “Very much of so-called prayer, both public and private, is not unto God. In order that a prayer should be really unto God, there must be a definite and conscious approach to God when we pray; we must have a definite and vivid realization that God is bending over us and listening as we pray.”
- Brothers and sisters, prayer is special…it’s not meant to be treated as a last resort or like a coin in a vending machine.
- And we don’t go before God expecting Him to answer our prayer, just because we’re His children, or because of what we’ve done for Him…
- Of course not!
- We go before God humbly, just like David, and we lovingly accept whatever His answer is, understanding that we don’t even deserve to have an audience with Him, yet He has given us that great privilege!
- Notice the word David uses in vs 2…
- “Give word to the voice of my cry…”
- I like the way Charles Spurgeon describes this crying out unto God…
- “Crying hath a voice – a soul moving eloquence; coming from our heart it reaches God’s heart…sometimes we cannot put our prayers into words: they are nothing but a cry: but the Lord can comprehend the meaning, for He hears a voice in our cry. To a loving Father, his children’s cries are music, and they have a magic influence which his heart cannot resist.”
- I sure am glad that when we look to God, and cry out to Him, even if we don’t know what to say, He hears, and He knows what we’re asking or needing, and He answers.
- One of the benefits of praying in the morning is that when you wake up, your body is rested and refreshed.
- Obviously, morning isn’t the only time you can pray, but it’s a great way to start the day!
- Hudson Taylor, the famous missionary to China, had trouble finding time alone with God. He began to wake himself up at 2:00 in the morning and used those quiet hours when everyone else slept to commune with God.
- That’s quite a dedication to prayer!
- You and I obviously don’t have to do that, but hopefully, no matter what time we wake up, we’ll look up to God and depend fully on Him to be with us another day.
II.) David chooses God- Vs 4-8
- There was a game show on tv that I used to watch called Deal or No Deal.
- On this show, a contestant chooses one briefcase from a selection of 26.
- Each briefcase contains a cash value from $0.01 to $1,000,000.
- Over the course of the game, the contestant eliminates cases from the game, periodically being presented with a "deal" from The Banker to take a cash amount to quit the game.
- Should the contestant refuse every deal, they are given the chance to trade the first case - chosen before play - for the only other one left in play, and win whatever money was in the chosen case.
- Obviously, all throughout this show, the player must make a choice of whether they want to keep going and try to win it all or accept a deal and walk away with at least some money.
- It’s amazing how greedy some people would get as they chose to keep going, even though they were offered quite a decent amount of money.
- In life, all of us have a lot of choices to make, but the most important choice a person makes is whether they will give their life to Jesus Christ and become part of the family of God or reject Him and live for themselves.
- Those who choose to live for themselves reject God’s offer of salvation, and choose to keep living without Christ…
- Sadly, at the end of their life, they walk away with nothing but eternal punishment for rejecting Christ’s offer of salvation.
- Here in vs 4-8, David describes those who reject God’s offer and live wicked lives, and he compares it with the choice he has made to follow God.
- In vs 4, he points out that God doesn’t take pleasure in wickedness and evil does not dwell with Him.
- So as David goes before God in the morning, he reminds himself that it will only do him harm if he chooses to live a wicked lifestyle that day.
- In choosing wickedness, he would not be pleasing God, and he also would be driving a wedge between him and God.
- Those who live for the world don’t care about God, so they don’t care that it’s a wedge between them and God.
- But for David, and the righteous person, it’s a scary thought to think of that wedge being there.
- Anything that comes between our relationship with God should grieve us and bring us to our knees!
- I remember years ago, I was not walking with the Lord, and I was living for the world.
- When I woke up in the morning, I didn’t feel the joy of the Lord…
- I couldn’t even approach Him because I was too ashamed of my sin.
- So, I continued living for the world and put God in the back of my mind.
- Thankfully, the Lord got a hold of me, and now when I wake up in the morning, instead of being miserable feeling distant from God, I feel His joy and peace and thank Him for another day to live for Him.
- In vs 5, David says the boastful will not stand in God’s sight, and He hates the workers of iniquity.
- The KJV uses the word “foolish…”
- Adam Clarke calls him “a madman!”
- Any person who chooses to reject Christ’s offer, and chooses this world over Him, is fighting against God Almighty, whether they realize it or not…
- Of course, that’s foolish because no man and no demon, not even Satan himself, can fight against God and win…it’s not possible!
- But what about the last part of the verse, when He says, “You hate all workers of iniquity…”
- And then in vs 6, “You’ll destroy them, you abhor them…”
- Wait, did God’s Word just say that God hates the wicked?
- This isn’t the only place it says this, by the way.
- We’ll run into it again throughout the Psalms.
- It’s in God’s Word, and it’s inspired by the Holy Spirit, so we know it’s true…
- But isn’t God love?
- Yes.
- Isn’t He longsuffering, not willing that any perish, but that all should come to repentance?”
- Yes…
- Didn’t He die on the cross for the sin of the world?
- Yes…
- So why does the Bible say He hates all workers of iniquity?
- If you ask members of some churches, such as Westboro Baptist, they’ll tell you it’s because the people God hates are evil and don’t deserve His love.
- That’s how they can justify their actions in holding up signs that say hateful things like, “God hates gays”…
- But they’re dead wrong, and they’ve taken those verses out of context.
- To help us understand, we have to remember that God’s ways are not our ways…
- His actions and His thoughts are way above anything you or I can comprehend…
- So when we look at these verses that say, “God hates workers of iniquity”, we have to remember that when God says He hates, it’s not the same kind of hate that you and I think of.
- When you and I hate, Jesus tells us it’s no different than murdering that person.
- That’s because hate, with our sinful nature, is corrupt, it’s wicked, it’s vicious!
- But when God uses the word hate, we’re talking about a Godly, pure, sinless hate…obviously, it’s a hate you and I can’t understand!
- You say, “Bobby, that’s just a cop-out!”
- Okay, well let me ask you this…do you understand God’s love?
- I’m not talking about a dictionary definition of God’s love…I’m talking about what motivated the God of the Universe, Perfect and Sinless, to come down to live among sinful men, to face hunger and thirst and be tempted in the wilderness…
- I’m talking about the love that He took with Him to the Cross, and said about His enemies mocking Him below, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do!”
- I’m talking about the deep, perfect, flawless love of God that saved you and me…
- Why would He come to this earth and die for us?
- The simple answer is because He loves us!
- But the deeper answer, of that kind of love, is that it’s something that only God can understand.
- It’s above our comprehension because we’re not God!
- So, when Scripture says He hates the workers of iniquity, but also says He died for the sin of the world and loves the world, there is no contradiction.
- We must understand that God can have both at the same time, love and hate for the sinner, but just like it’s really hard for us to understand the Trinity, it’s also really hard for us to understand the love and hate of God.
- We’ve got just a tiny little picture of it in Scripture, which of course is more than enough…
- And it’s enough that it should make us love Him more, for allowing us to become part of His family, even though we don’t deserve it!
- Someday, we’re going to be with Him in Heaven, and we’re going to see His love face to face, and I’m hoping I get to hug Him, because I love Him.
- Does that make sense, or did I just confuse everybody?
- Okay, so those who take pleasure in wickedness, boast, work iniquity, speak falsehood, are bloodthirsty and deceitful, those people have chosen to reject God’s offer of salvation.
- They wake up in the morning, and their first thoughts are all about themselves…God doesn’t even enter their mind.
- David, however, has chosen to follow God.
- So, He comes before God, knowing that He is merciful.
- He comes before God in fear and worships Him.
- He asks God to lead him in His righteousness, and that God would make His path straight.
- So David understands that it’s only God’s power and work in him that can keep him from the way of the wicked.
- Once again, we’re seeing his humility displayed in his prayer.
- Think about it…
- If David woke up and decided, “I don’t want to follow God anymore”, and then lived the rest of his life for himself and the pleasures of this world, then just like Saul, he would have been rejected by God.
- That means he would have fallen into that category of the “workers of iniquity” that God hates.
- So, in his humility, David is saying, “It’s only by the grace and mercy of God that I’m even able to continue in a relationship with God.”
- No one can be sure of when this Psalm was written, but some Bible scholars believe it’s likely that it was written when David fled from Absalom.
- If that’s the case, this Psalm was written after David’s sin with Bathsheba.
- That gives us a picture of how deep David’s humility must have been…
- Even after he had done many of those things that the workers of iniquity practice, God forgave him, and he was able to move forward in his relationship with God.
- So David knows firsthand what a wonderful thing it is to choose to follow God instead of sin, and he’s sharing that with us here.
III.) David is victorious in God- Vs 9-12
- There’s this silly cartoon Aaron and Leah like to watch called Blaze and the Monster Machine.
- It’s about this monster truck named Blaze that goes around racing with other monster trucks on different tracks.
- One of the monster trucks is named Crusher, and the problem with Crusher is that he likes to cheat.
- So, he’ll come up with all sorts of silly ways of cheating to try to slow down the other racers.
- For example, in one episode, he created these little monster munchers that chewed up the wooden bridge, so Blaze and the other racers couldn’t cross to the other side.
- The funny thing is that no matter what he does, Blaze always figures out how to get around his cheating, and Crusher never wins a race, no matter how much cheating he does.
- When it comes to the wicked and the godly, no matter what the they do, they will never be victorious because they are not on God’s side.
- David and the godly person, on the other hand, will always be victorious because we belong to God.
- So, David now continues his description of the wicked, and what their destination looks like.
- He says there is no faithfulness in their mouth, so he’s explaining that what the wicked say is evidence of their wickedness.
- One commentator says, “David felt the sting of wicked words and lies against him. Yet this prayer shows something good brought out of the attacks from the enemy. “Thus, a man’s enemies, while they oblige him to pray more fervently, and to watch more narrowly over his conduct, oftentimes become his best friends.”
- Then he says they flatter with their tongue.
- So, the wicked will try to cover up their sin by using flattery, but God sees right through it.
- They might be able to fool people, but they can’t fool God.
- And if they try to flatter God, that doesn’t work either because God can’t be flattered!
- So, David says, “Pronounce them guilty, Oh God!”
- Once again, they might be able to fool people, even an earthly judge, but it’s impossible for them to fool God!
- His pronouncement of “Guilty!” is unchangeable and non-negotiable.
- They might make plans, and receive counsel that sounds like good counsel, but just like Absalom took bad counsel from Ahithophel when he rebelled against David and took his throne, but then was killed in battle, so too do the wicked fall by their own counsels.
- Just think about all the wicked dictators that have had power in our world.
- Saddam Hussein, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin…there are of course many more we could name.
- They might have been able to take power, and reign for a little while, but eventually, they were either toppled from their seat of power by their own people or a foreign army, or they died because no matter how powerful a person is, none can live forever in this world.
- Then David says, “They have rebelled against You!”
- David understood that when the wicked rebel, they’re not rebelling against a man…they’re rebelling against God Himself.
- Their rebellion will ultimately lead to their judgement.
- The righteous on the other hand put our trust in the Lord, and because we do, we can rejoice in Him!
- I like the way Charles Spurgeon describes this.
- We have permission, we have a precept, we have a prayer, and we have a promise.
- “You have permission for joy. “You have here a ticket to the banquets of joy. You may be as happy as ever you like. You have divine permission to shout for joy.”
- You have a precept, a command for joy: “Come, ye mournful ones, be glad. Ye discontented grumblers, come out of that dog-hole! Enter the palace of the King! Quit your dunghills; ascend your thrones.”
- You should pray for joy, both in yourself and others – especially servants of the Lord. “If you lose your joy in your religion, you will be a poor worker: you cannot bear strong testimony, you cannot bear stern trial, you cannot lead a powerful life. In proportion as you maintain your joy, you will be strong in the Lord, and for the Lord.”
- You have a promise for joy: “God promises joy and gladness to believers. Light is sown for them: the Lord will turn their night into day.”
- And when we turn to God, every day, we are victorious because we have the favor of God!
- And David closes this Psalm by telling us that the favor of God surrounds us like a shield!
- When Martin Luther was on his way to face a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church to answer for what they said were his heretical teachings, one of the Cardinal’s servants taunted him saying, “Where will you find shelter if your patron, the Elector of Saxony, should desert you?” Luther answered, “Under the shelter of heaven.”
- You and I, as followers of God, are under the shelter of our Great God!
