Lament song from David as he prayed in the morning. He was hiding from Absolom who was raising an army against him but now he is back in Jerusalem.
1 Listen to my words, Lord,consider my lament.
2 Hear my cry for help,my King and my God,for to you I pray.
3 In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.
4 For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness; with you, evil people are not welcome.
5 The arrogant cannot stand in your presence.You hate all who do wrong;
6 you destroy those who tell lies. The bloodthirsty and deceitful you, Lord, detest.
7 But I, by your great love, can come into your house; in reverence I bow down toward your holy temple.
8 Lead me, Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies—make your way straight before me.
9 Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with malice. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongues they tell lies.
10 Declare them guilty, O God! Let their intrigues be their downfall.Banish them for their many sins, for they have rebelled against you.
11 But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
12 Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.
SECTIONS
5 Stropes (or parts that change)= those whose focus is positive (righteous or with the Lord) compared to those who focus is on negative or evil (against God).
Verses 1-3 (positive +) 4-6 (negative -) 7-8 (+) 9-10 (-) 11-12 (+)
- Earnest plea to attend his cries (1-3)
- Expression of unwavering confidence in God as protector and friend (4-7)
- Prayer to God for his guidance and protection (8-10)
- Exhortation for all to put their trust in him (11-12)
moves from positive (those who are with the Lord) to the negative (those who wicked or against God)
OR
Sections:
I David’s prayer
II God’s hatred of evil
III God’s grace & guidance of his own
IV God’s blessing on his people
“I lay my requests before you “(elders would gather at the city gate and people would lay petitions before them) ie: Boab in Ruth 4: 1-6. God sometimes answers out petitions with a yes, no or or the time isn’t right (which harder to hear). We are encouraged to be persistent in prayer.
THEME: Trust in God’s provision, protection and guidance
QUESTIONS
David lays his requests before God. How does David wait on the Lord to answer those requests?
How does David say he can come into the Lord’s house?
How does he come before the Lord.
What does David ask God to do to his enemies?
What does David ask God to do for those who take refuge in him?
How does God bless the righteous?
When has God proved to be a refuge for you?
ADDITIONAL VERSES
2 Cor 5: 16-17 “From now on we regard no one from a worldly view…..”We need to see people as those whom Christ as redeemed. They may still be a sinner but they have been made new by Christ because Christ took their sin. They are sinners that need to be remade and God is working on that.
Isaiah 6:2 Even angels hide their face from God in worship. We should approach God with reverence in worship. And Moses had to hide his face for God to pass by him.
Barnes commentary (my summary): It’s good to have morning prayer for who knows what a day may bring or what temptations may come or dangers await? We are prone to mistakes and sin in a world of temptation and dangers. We should look to God each morning for his guidance and protection.
The wicked have no desire to serve God. The wicked have no hope of access to God, and no reason to suppose that he’ll hear their cry. But David knows he can enter God’s house and feels assured that God will listen to his prayer. “I will come into thy house” – shows his expectation and hope that he would again be allowed to enter the courts of the Lord, from which he was driven away by Absolom.
“Their throat is an open sepulchre “- their throat open to devour or swallow up the peace and happiness of others. The main idea is that they are false, treacherous, not to be confided in, slanderous.
In Romans 3:13 Paul said, “to demonstrate the depravity of man.“Destroy them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out because of the multitude of their sins, for they have rebelled against you.” They were undoubtedly guilty and David wanted God to regard and treat them “as such.” They were guilty of pursuing a course which tended to overthrow the government of the land, and they were at war with God and with the best interests of the people. He wanted God to stop their progress and show himself to be a righteous and just God. There is no spirit of revenge in his prayer. Every good person wishes that the violators of law will be arrested and punished. David didn’t want their plans for evil to succeed. He trusted God in the day of trouble and danger just as we can put our trust in him now.
https://bible.org/seriespage/psalm-5-what-do-when-under-attack
David prays (5:8), “O Lord, lead me in Your righteousness because of my foes; make Your way straight before me.” His prayer isn’t just that God would protect him from the wicked, but also that God would protect him from becoming like the wicked.
It’s not necessarily wrong to defend yourself against critics that attack you. Paul did this in Galatians and 2 Corinthians. But it requires God’s wisdom to know when to defend yourself and when to ignore the critics. And whatever you do, it takes God’s grace and wisdom to respond in a gracious, Christlike manner. When you’re under attack, take refuge in the Lord as your righteous defender.
From http://www.scripturestudies.com/Vol1/A5/a5_psa.html
Faith not only asks in prayer, but expects an answer. Having presented his prayer, David goes on to state four reasons why his prayer will be heard. He cites as a reason God’s hatred of evil. This implies that David’s prayer was a righteous prayer. It would be an insult to God’s holiness to pray for anything unrighteous. David is appealing to God on the basis of His righteousness. For a prayer to be answered by God, it must be consistent with His nature.
David says “the wicked cannot dwell” with God, only the holy. How can Christians expect to dwell with God in heaven for eternity? Are we holy? Not in ourselves. But through our belief in Jesus we are imputed with righteousness. “Through him everyone who believes is justified” (Acts 13:39) and “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1).
Despite living in this ungodly world, David says: “For surely, O Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.” We may face trials here living among the ungodly, bur we’re under God’s blessing and shield. We can rejoice that we face nothing but what He allows us to face. Even the death of our bodies, will result in our eternal joy with God.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqBvq8wZGsI It’s youtube video on Psalm 5
When we look at our world, things can trouble & overwhelm us. David felt the same. He sees things in life that aren’t right and he’s troubled. But he realizes he can go to God and share his heart & struggles. “You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness.” Some think that a loving God looks the other way with everything. But if you are heartbroken over the world, imagine how God’s heart is broken. David says, “I will come into your house in the multitude of your mercy.” He doesn’t want God to punish the evildoers while proclaiming he is just fine and has no sin. David asks for mercy with great reverence for God. When we go to God, just like David we are blessed.
PRAYER FOR US: Father, we praise You that we are under Your protection and that we can have joy through anything that we face here on earth. We thank You that You have provided a way for us to walk in Your righteousness and not be counted among the ungodly. Put in our hearts the desire to seek You each morning, clear the way for us to find the time to pray. Guide us by Your Spirit in what we should pray. In Jesus’ name we ask these things. Amen.
My Reflection on Psalm 5:
I reflected on how “The Lord detests arrogance and deceit” and I try to watch that I don’t lie, even little white lies. That’s so easy to do. I don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings. So instead of simply saying, “No I don’t want to go. Or I can’t join you tonight. I tend to make up some excuse like “I have other plans with someone.” I don’t need to say that. I just don’t want someone to be hurt because I don’t feel like joining them that day to go shopping or to have dinner. But even a little “white” lie in the face of a holy God is not acceptable. I can choose to just ignore that and continue in my ways or I can daily strive to be more like a disciple of Jesus.
Arrogance and pride can sneak up on me. At times it takes me completely by surpise that I can fall into it so easily! Someone gets praised and I feel ignored for what I did and my feelings get hurt. I hate that about myself. But it’s good that at least I can see what I did. It’s worse if my husband has to point it out to me! That means I was blind to the sneaky sin of pride. It’s not bad to feel good about a job well done. Jesus even rewards a good and faithful servant for a job well done. But if we intentionally seek out the praise of men rather than God, that’s when we have a problem. My desire should be on praising Jesus for who he is and what’s he done in my life rather than what I’ve done. And my desire should be that he gets the praise he deserves rather than hoping to be recognized for what I’ve accomplished. Besides, David knew any good he ever did was from God and not of himself. So before I’m quick to focus on just the traits of the wicked, I need to see some of those very traits in my self, confess them and ask the Holy Spirit for help in overcoming them so that my life reflects the love of Jesus. So I like David’s prayer, “Lead me in the way of your righteousness O Lord.”
I also love how David describes the Lord surrounding us with favor as with a shield. I shared this verse with a friend and she said she had never thought about that before, but she could see it to be true in her life. I remember one time when I had a really bad cold. Every time I do I get a strong craving for chicken noodle soup. But I felt too sick to try and make some. Right about the time my craving was strongest, there was a knock at my door. Someone from church had heard I was sick and guess what they brought over?
Another time I was driving somewhere and I was coming close to a bend in the road. It’s a blind spot where he road sharply curves around. For some reason I felt I had to stop the car. It takes a leap of faith to stop your car for no good reason. I pulled over to the side of the road and stopped.Then I saw a huge semi truck coming around the bend of the road from the opposite direction. It lost control on the curve and came into the other lane. If I hadn’t pulled over I would have been hit. God really does surround us with favor as with a shield. I was shielded that day from certain injury or even death.
I had another close encounter with a semi-truck. One time my daughter and I were in a car driving to the store. It was snowing out and the roads were a bit icy. I had come to a stop sign but my car kept sliding forward into the highway where a semi-truck was barreling down the road. I saw the that we were on a direct collision course and that the truck would hit my side door. It’s like time stopped. There was a crash and the truck had sheered off the front bumper of my car as it passed on by without stopping. As I sat there frozen in fear, I realized that truck should have hit my door. I saw the trajectory of where it was headed, and even veering to the side at that speed it would have been impossible to miss my door. What had happened? I believe to this day that God sent an angel to push my car backward and out of the way. And I think the driver kept going because he couldn’t believe what had happened either! Or did he see a guardian angel at work? Either way—even if God had the truck veer suddenly at the last second—if doesn’t matter. God surrounded me with favor as with a shield!!
QUOTE from C.S,Lewis about this psalm
“If the Jews cursed more bitterly than the Pagans, this was, I think, at least in part because they took right and wrong more seriously. For if we look at their railings we find they are usually angry not simply because these things have been done to them (by their enemies) but because these things are manifestly wrong, are hateful to God as well as to the victim.” [Note: C. S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalm , p30.]
EXAMPLE OF A TABLE and what I learn from psalms 1-5 through a table. I look at the description of the wicked and review my life to see if there is any part of me that has joined in their wickedness. I see if there is a blessing that I’m not grateful for, or a character of God I need to focus on. Do I believe in my heart (and not just my head) that God loves me, protects me or sees me as righteous in Jesus. Tables are a great way to pick out important points about God and our place as Christians.
| About God | About wicked | What Christians should/shouldn’t do | Blessings for Christians | Questions asked in psalmS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guards (watches over, protects) our path . He’s installed his King on Zion. God is a shield around us. He sustains us. He delivers us us. He is a Righteous God | The Lord scoffs at those who come against him & rebukes them in anger.Like chaff driven off by wind/ they will perish/kings of the earth join together to turn against the Lord./ They want to cut the chains & be free/Will be rebuked by God & terrified by God’s wrath | Don’t walk in counsel of wicked or scoffers or walk in path of sinners/ Delight in law of Lord meditate/ Tremble &don’t sin in your anger…search your heart, be silent. | Will be like a tree bearing fruit & will prosper Blessed are those who take refuge in him. He delivers us guards,watches over,protects our path. | Why do nations conspire and people plot in vain? (to the wicked)How long will you love delusions & seek false gods? |
| He sets apart the godly for himself. Makes me dwell in safety. He is a shield around us. | Arrogant can’t stand in God’s presence, are deceitful, bloodthirsty; not a word from their mouth can be trusted, rebellious, | Trust in the Lord.I will not fear. | God answers my prayer /Fills me w/joy/ I will lie down & sleep in peace | |
| Not pleased with wickedness, evil peple, hate all who do wrong, | I, by God’s great Love can come into his house in reverence |