The Best Remedy Series

May 18, 2003

Psalms for Psummer Psunday Nights

Title: Psalm 5: The Best Remedy

Text: Psalm 5:1-12

Introduction

Psalms is a powerful book of the Bible containing spiritual songs.

The word "psalms", taken from the Greek word "psalmoi" means "songs" or "sacred songs"

The Hebrew word is "tehillim" which means, "praises" or "songs of praise"

When these songs and poems were written, they were likely sung...

perhaps as part of a worship service...

or even just as a part of personal worship and devotion

Psalms is a special book...

we often turn to the Psalms when we are hurting or discouraged...

and we find that as we read the Psalms, our hearts turn to praising God...

our spirit is rejuvenated

and our soul begins to rejoice...

even in the midst of sorrow.

I would like for us to begin a study of the book of Psalms during these Psummer Psunday Nights!

Tonight I would like to start with Psalm 5.

Read Text: Psalm 5:1-12

Body

1. Background Info

One of the interesting things about many of the Psalms is the poetical order to the Psalm

This Psalm is divided into 5 stanzas.

the 1st 2 stanzas are 3 verses each,

the remaining stanzas are 2 verses each. (3,3,2,2,2)

There is not only a poetical structure...

but there is a certain structure of the actual subject matter.

The first stanza is an introduction,

then the next stanza is used to lament what evil and sinful people do.

The 3rd stanza is a rebuttal to those who do evil.

And that pattern repeats itself again...

4 stanza: lament of sin

5 stanza: a rebuttal of those who do evil.

This Psalm begins and ends on a positive note.

Psalm 5 has been called a Morning Psalm because of Psalm 5:3

David was a warrior....

He fought many battles in his life time...

as a boy, his battles were against bears and lions (1 sam 17:34)

As a man, his battles were against the enemies of his people.

And as a warrior, David had many enemies...

enemies in the foreign armies obviously...

but he also, because of his success, made enemies amongst his own people...

most notably, Saul.

And, David even made enemies within his own family.

In this Psalm, David has obviously come to the end of his rope with the verbal attacks of his enemies.

Specifically, people have been spreading malicious lies about him. (ps 5:6, 9)

You know the old children’s saying, "sticks and stone will break my bones but words will never hurt me".

Obviously that saying is not true...

just the fact that children would use this to respond to those who say hurtful things...

just shows that words CAN hurt.

And it’s not just the kids...

Let me just do an informal survey...

how many of you have been hurt by someone who either

lied about you?

or said mean things about you.?

Then perhaps you can identify with David in the words of this Psalm.

As we study this Psalm, we will not only identify with David’s feelings when people verbally attack us...

but we will also see some great ways to respond to those people

2. First Stanza

First of all, I want you to notice where David turned when these attacks came.

He didn’t run around to everyone in the Temple and say...

"Do you know what that Susie said about me...

she called me a scared-y-cat...

me David, why, I’d like to show her a thing or two about being a "scared-y-cat"

No, instead, he turned to God. Notice in his prayer...he seems to go out of his way to make sure that he goes to God...

Give ear to my words Psalms 5:1 (NIV)

consider my sighing Psalms 5:1 (NIV)

Listen to my cry for help Psalms 5:2 (NIV)

to you I pray Psalms 5:2 (NIV)

you hear my voice Psalms 5:3 (NIV)

I lay my requests before you Psalms 5:3 (NIV)

I count no less than 7 specific comments in these first 3 verses where David is soliciting God

Notice what David did...

He turned to God...and he spent time in prayer.

(goes right along with our theme for this month)

When David was being verbally attacked...

His answer was to go to the Lord in prayer...

When people were being arrogant...and pulling attitude with him...

His answer was to go to the Lord in prayer

When people were lying about him...

His answer was to go to the Lord in prayer.

Many times, when we are attacked, we are inclined to strike back...

or we are inclined to spread our own verbal assault about them to someone else.

But David answer is the correct one...

we need to go to the Lord in prayer.

Notice also that David spent time in prayer IN THE MORNING...