Psalm 5-1
Hear my words, O Lord;
consider my regret.
Psalm 5-2
Listen to the voice of my cry, my King and my God,
for I will pray to you.
Psalm 5-3
O Lord, in the morning you will hear my voice;
tomorrow I will appear before you and wait.
Psalm 5-4
Because you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness;
evil will not dwell with you.
Psalm 5-5
Fools will not be in your sight;
you hate all workers of iniquity.
Psalm 5-6
You will destroy those who speak lies;
bloodthirsty and deceitful man will be abhorred by the Lord.
Psalm 5-7
But I, because of the abundance of your mercy, will enter your house;
with reverence I will worship towards your holy temple.
Psalm 5-8
Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies;
make your way straight before me.
Psalm 5-9
For there is no sincerity in their mouth;
its entrails are full of destruction;
an open grave is his throat;
they flatter with their tongues.
Psalm 5-10
Condemn them, O God;
let them fall for their own advice.
Cast them out because of the multitude of their transgressions,
because they rebelled against you.
Psalm 5-11
But let all who trust in you be glad;
Let them shout for joy forever, for you defend them;
and let those who love your name rejoice in you.
Psalm 5-12
For you, O Lord, will bless the righteous;
you will surround him with benevolence as with a shield.
Psalm 5 Meaning
The meaning of Psalm 5 is very interesting, it tells us that prayer must be important in our life, and that this prayer must be accompanied by a purpose, if not, then it is not a real prayer towards our Lord.
Psalm 5 Commentary
It has been said with good reason that the human being is a being of habits. Much of what we do is due to some habit acquired at some point in our lives. Habits can be evil or benign, depending on whether they feed our flesh or our spirit. Today we are going to talk about a benign habit. The habit of morning prayer. Many think that the habit of morning prayer is for the fanatics or for those who do not have something more interesting to do or for the unemployed. But King David was neither fanatic nor idle,
With that said, let’s open our Bible to Psalm 5. Just like the previous psalm, this psalm also has an overwriting or title.
It goes like this: To the main musician; about Nehilot. Psalm of David.
Here we have a new instruction to the main musician or the music director. This psalm was to be sung over Nehilot. The meaning of the word Nehilot is uncertain. For many it is the name of a melody, for others it is the name of a musical instrument, probably the flute. The word Nehilot appears only once in the book of Psalms, here in Psalm 5. According to the title of the psalm, its author is King David. Psalm 5 is essentially the daily and morning prayer of David and in it the attitude of God towards the righteous and the wicked is manifested.
The first three verses of the psalm open a window for us to take a look at David’s custom of prayer.
Psalm 5: 1-3 reads like this: “Hear my words, O Jehovah; consider my groaning. Pay attention to the voice of my cry, my King and my God, for to you I will pray. O Jehovah, in the morning you will hear my voice ; In the morning I’ll present myself in front of you and I’ll wait.”
We note that David’s prayer is addressed to Jehovah. David had such respect and reverence for Jehovah that he treats him as: My King and my God. Remember that David was also a king, moreover, the most powerful king of his time, but that characteristic was not a reason for David to have a higher self-concept than he should have. David recognizes that although he is king, with a small letter, above him is the King with a capital letter, Jehovah of armies.
To exercise authority you must first learn to be under authority. David was under the authority of God. But notice also the very intimate way David treats God. My King and my God. There was such a close relationship between David and God that David was from God and God was from David. All of this can be applied to you and me. If you have received Christ as your Savior, you are also from God and God is from you.
We also noted that when David prayed he was not content with saying memorized words or nonsense words to God. The passage read says that David prayed to God with words, he also prayed to God with groans and also cried out to God in prayer. These are three forms of prayer. Prayer in words means talking to him like when you talk to a friend. Prayer with groans has nothing to do with stammering in a state of ecstasy, but with meditating deeply on what we are saying to God. Some translations of the Bible say: consider my meditation. Crying out to God in prayer means shedding tears or crying out loud, in the presence of God. Certainly David’s prayer was not superficial as ours is on many occasions.
We also see in this passage the time of day when David prayed. O Jehovah says David, in the morning you will hear my voice; In the morning I’ll present myself in front of you and I’ll wait.
As king, David must have been a very busy person. But despite this, according to his own testimony, he got up in the morning to make his voice heard before God. The morning seems to be the best time to go before God in prayer. In the morning, the intellect is more awake and the spirit more ready. As the day goes by, the cares of life diminish our ability to perceive spiritual things.
It is said that Martin Luther used to pray two hours every day before starting his activities. But some days that were to be particularly busy, instead of praying less, Martin Luther prayed more. When asked why, Luther had replied: Two hours of prayer is enough for what I do on a normal day of activities, but three hours are necessary when the day is going to be more busy. It is no surprise what God did through this man.
We have taken a look at David’s custom of prayer. Now let’s take a look at the content of David’s prayer. In this we find an account of God’s attitude toward the righteous and the wicked.
What God thinks of the righteous is found in various verses in the rest of the chapter.
Psalm 5: 4 says, “For you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; the wicked will not dwell with you.”
God is holy and hates evil. The bad guy doesn’t have the slightest hope of dwelling with God. To live with God we have to stop being bad. The only way to do this is by being born again through receiving Christ as Savior.
Other verses that tell us about God’s attitude towards the righteous are 7 and 8 where it says. “But I for the abundance of your mercy will enter your house; I will worship towards your holy temple in your fear. Lead me, Jehovah, in your righteousness, because of my enemies; make straight your way before me”
God has preferential treatment for the righteous. The righteous can enter the house of God, the very throne of his grace and worship God. Spiritually speaking, David saw himself as the high priest, entering the most holy place of the tabernacle. Because David was not the high priest, he could not in practice enter the most holy place of the tabernacle, but by God’s grace he did so spiritually every morning. There in the presence of God, David could be justly led to outwit the attack of his enemies and could understand the way God wanted him to walk.
But now let’s consider the contrast. God’s attitude toward the wicked.
Let’s see what verses 5 and 6 say. “Fools will not stand before your eyes; you hate all who do iniquity. You will destroy those who speak lies; the bloodthirsty and deceitful man will be abhorred by the Lord.”
By contrast, the wicked cannot be in God’s sight. God hates those who practice sin. The God will destroy those who practice lying. God abhors those who shed blood and deceive. You cannot play with God. If it weren’t for God’s mercy we would all be destroyed. But thank God that he has given us an opportunity to stop being ungodly and become righteous by trusting in the sacrifice of Christ our Savior.
Continuing with the attitude of God towards the wicked, we have verses 9 and 10 where he says: “Because in their mouth there is no sincerity; their entrails are evil, their throat is an open grave, with their tongue they speak flattery. Punish them, O God. ; fall for their own advice; by the multitude of their transgressions cast them out, for they rebelled against you. “
Here we have a vivid picture of the utter depravity of man. This passage is used in the New Testament to show the absolute depravity of the human being. Man is a hypocrite by nature. It appears what it is not. Its very essence is evil. His mouth proclaims what his darkened understanding produces. His tongue is ready to hurt, to wound, to flatter. Faced with this picture, the psalmist pronounces an imprecatory judgment. In other words, he is advocating the punishment of the wicked. This is typical in the book of Psalms.
We have taken a look at David’s custom of prayer and the content of David’s prayer.
Let’s finally take a look at David’s full confidence.
Psalm 5: 11-12 says: “But let all who trust in you be glad; let them shout for joy forever, because you defend them; in you those who love your name rejoice, For you, O Lord, will bless the righteous; As with a shield them with your favor.”
David claimed punishment for the wicked, but for the righteous it is the opposite. Those who trust in God will live in joy. Those who love God find their joy in him. The righteous will be blessed by Jehovah. The righteous will be surrounded by Jehovah’s favor so that the enemy cannot hurt them.
Finally, let me ask you this question. How is your prayer life? Did you appear before God in prayer this morning? David did. Jesus did it, Martin Luther did it. And you.?
