Psalm 5

“My voice shalt thou hear in the morning” (vs. 1-3)—In this psalm, David bounces back and forth between God’s response to the righteous and His response to the wicked—or at least the response David wants Him to give. David begins with a request that God hear his prayer and a statement of faith that He will: “Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation” (v. 1); “My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD” (v. 3), and David would not be lax in making his prayers: “in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up” (v. 3). As we have already seen and will see constantly, David was a devoted man of prayer. I often wonder how constant and dedicated we are in our prayer lives. We need patience (Luke 18:1-5), but we also need to ask, and that may be the biggest problem: “You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures” (James 4:2-3). Let’s be more consistent and pure in our prayer lives.

“For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness” (vs. 4-6)—David lists a few things—and people—the Lord disapproves of: boasters (or, “foolish,” KJV, v. 5), liars, bloodthirsty, and deceitful men (v. 6). “You hate all workers of iniquity” (v. 5). God doesn’t “hate” anyone, of course, but their actions certainly repulse Him.

David's reverent, submissive attitude (vs. 7-8)—In contrast, David says, “I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple” (v. 7). Notice the “multitude” of the mercy of God; even a godly man like David recognized his need for a vast amount of grace. Indeed, that’s one of the reasons David was a godly man. And his attitude in worship was correct, too: “in thy fear…” There was no flippancy or casualness in David. He was awed in the presence of Almighty God, and I wish we had a double-dose of his spirit today. And he knew also where guidance and protection came from:  "Lead me, O Lord, in Your righteousness...Make Your way straight before my face" (v. 8).

“Destroy thou them, O God” (vs. 9-10)—Those who love righteousness will hate iniquity, and that describes David. The lives and words of his enemies were revolting to him (v. 9). His solution, “Destroy thou them, O God,” (v. 10, KJV) was a bit strong, but keep in mind this is poetic; the NKJV softens it to “Pronounce them guilty, O God,” and the ASV is closer to that: “Hold them guilty.” Regardless, David’s next statement is perhaps a little more explanatory: “let them fall by their own counsels.” The problem was not what they had done to David, but “they have rebelled against You” (v. 10). David is not above the occasional desire for personal retribution, because he was human, and keep in mind that these psalms, though inspired of God, are written from a human perspective. But ultimately, the king’s concern was how man responded to his God, and if they refused to honor Him, they were worthy of condemnation and punishment.

The final contrast (vs. 11-12)—“But let all those rejoice who put their trust in you” (v. 11). There was a reason for that: “because You defend them,” and “You, O Lord, will bless the righteous; with favor You will surround him as with a shield” (v. 12). There is much reason for “those…who love Your name” to “be joyful in You,” and “ever shout for joy” (v. 11). Do we ever really stop and think of the wonderful blessings God showers upon us? Part of our problem is that many of God’s blessings are not visible—“defending” us, “surrounding us as with a shield.” We tend to think of “blessings” as material things, and those certainly are “blessings.” But much of what God does for us cannot be seen with the naked eye, and we must be careful that we are grateful for these matters as well. David was aware of them, and he makes us aware of them, too.