Confiding in the Character of God

Psalm 5

To the lead musician, with wind instruments, a psalm of David.

As with the previous psalm, the temple music director was supposed to include this song in a collection of songs to be used for regular temple worship. Not all psalms were assigned to this special collection.

This worship leader was also supposed to provide instrumental accompaniment for this song, only this time not with plucked string instruments as with Psa 4 but with blown wind instruments, perhaps something like a pan flute.

Furthermore, as with Psa 4, David wrote this song without giving any background information about the circumstances that caused him to write it.

Still, we do know at least one thing about this song – we know the time of day when David prayed or sang this song to God – it was in the morning.

How do you start your day? Do you ever start “on the wrong side of the bed,” afraid, agitated, and upset before your day even officially begins? If you have submitted to God’s king – to Jesus Christ – as your God and Savior, then there’s one right way to start your day and that’s to renew your trust in God through prayer.

God’s people speak to him in the morning.

Hear my words, Yahweh,

             listen carefully to my whispering;

pay close attention to the voice of my pleading – my King and my God –

for to you I am praying.

Yahweh, in the morning, you hear my voice;

             in the morning I present it to you and wait.

Psalm 5:1-3

Some call the previous psalm the “night prayer” or “night song” because it tells us what David thought and prayed at the end of the day. The same people call this next psalm the “morning prayer” or “morning song” because it tells us what David thought at the start of the day. About this, Charles Spurgeon said, “Prayer should be the key of the day and the lock of the night. Devotion should be both the morning … and the evening star.”

This opening section describes a variety of ways to express yourself in prayer.

• Words describes general, normal speaking.
• Whispering is less audible, discernible speech, like mumbling, sighing, or whispering.
• Pleading is something more vocal and dramatic, like a cry for help or an outcry.

In this song, David emphasizes to whom he is praying. He prays to Yahweh, whom he names twice, at the beginning and end. In between, he calls him his King and his God.

• God shows David’s loyalty to Yahweh as his God and his rejection of all other gods.
• King is fascinating because David is God’s appointed king over Israel and eventually over all other nations. Yet here David reveals his belief that though he is God’s chosen king, he is still a man under authority who must answer to God’s authority over him.
• David says “to you” twice, which intensifies his focus on Yahweh as his audience.

David’s weaves another emphasis through these opening words. Hear, then listen carefully, then pay close attention increase with intensity, revealing an urgent desire for God to pay attention to his prayer.

He punctuates this urgent desire with a patient approach. He would present his prayer to Yahweh in the morning, then like a watchman at the top of a castle tower or a lighthouse keeper scanning the offshore horizon in a storm, David would wait throughout the day for God to respond to his prayer.

These opening lines reveal that though David was king, he did not live or lead in self-reliance. He relied upon Yahweh as his God and submitted to him as his King.

Are you like David? No matter how old you have grown to be and no matter how much influence, power, or success you achieved in this life, do you awake in the morning with an intense desire to depend on God to guide you? Do you talk to him in the morning before you face the challenges of your day? Do you look expectantly for how he will guide you and intervene in your life throughout the day?

There is a big difference between speaking to God only later in the day after difficult things have happened and speaking to God early in the morning before anything happens at all.

David’s opening words to this song revealed a powerful man who relied upon God completely like a helpless child, who expressed his trust through serious, heartfelt prayer, and who watched expectantly for God to intervene in his life. He did not take a casual approach towards God. He did not simply mumble through some formulaic, memorized prayer without thinking. He trusted or confided in God seriously, personally, and completely. Do you?

They savor his revulsion towards sin.

For you are not a god who enjoys wickedness:

             no evil person will be a guest with you;

the boastful cannot stand before your eyes;

             you hate all who do evil;

you destroy those speak lies,

             a man of bloodshed and deception you detest, Yahweh.

Psalm 5:4-6

In this section, David reflects on Yahweh’s attitude towards sin. He recognizes that God’s attitude towards sin is very different from the attitude of other so-called gods towards sin. Though other supposed gods would retaliate against people (and against other gods) who had offended them, these were not consistent in their opposition to sin because even they tolerated or practiced certain wrong behaviors of their own. Pagan gods are well-known for being capricious and even immoral, judging or punishing others only when they were especially bothered in a personal way.

Do you know the difference between how a child eats chocolate and how an adult [is supposed to] eat chocolate? A child gulps down chocolate like a dog eats food, giving little thought to how it tastes. An adult [sometimes] eats chocolate slowly, tasting it from all four taste zones on the tongue – sweet (front), sour (just behind the front), bitter (rear mid-section of the tongue), and salty (back section). This approach appreciates and [keyword] savors the subtle qualities and tones of each piece of chocolate.

Is this how you respond to God’s total hatred of sin? Or does God’s holiness and hatred towards sin make you want to gag? Or do you think about it quickly and as little as you can because it makes you feel guilty?

David savored God’s revulsion towards sin – God’s holiness – as evidenced by his prolonged, six-line reflection on this aspect of God’s character. He did not fly quickly by this aspect of God’s character when he prayed. He thought about it one layer at a time:

• Yahweh finds zero enjoyment or pleasure in either seeing or doing wickedness.
• He is so against sin that a sinful person can’t even be a temporary guest with him.
• He cannot allow an arrogant person (who sings his own praises) to stand before him.
• He hates (or treats like an enemy) everyone who does evil of any kind.
• He destroys (or expels) everyone who tells lies.
• He detests (or abhors) people who hurt or deceive other people.

Yahweh stands alone his total revulsion towards sin; no other god opposes sin so completely, in every form and to every degree. When we savor his total revulsion of sin, his perfect holiness, we find great comfort knowing that no matter what evil occurs and whatever sins are committed against us, God never has anything to do with it these things. We also know that he will judge anyone who persists in sinful words and behavior. They will not succeed.

Do you – like David – savor the holiness of God and his revulsion towards sin? The South African pastor, Andrew Murray, said this about holiness: “Holiness is not something we do or attain; it is the communication of the divine life, the inbreathing of the divine nature; the power of the divine presence resting upon us.”

Before we try to be holy, we would do well to meditate more deeply and focus more frequently on the holiness of God, for God alone is holy and only as we grow in our awareness of and sensitivity to his holiness may we come to trust in his holiness as our own.

They seek his reliable guidance.

But I – through the abundance of your loyal love – enter your house;

             I bow down toward your holy temple in awe of you.

Yahweh, guide me in your righteousness;

             because of my enemies, make your way straight before my face.

For there is nothing reliable in his mouth:

             their insides are destruction;

             an open grave is their throat;

             their tongue is slippery.

Psalm 5:7-9

If you’re thinking carefully, you know that David committed his own share of sins. So, how could he find comfort in Yahweh’s total revulsion towards sin – in his holiness? Wouldn’t Yahweh’s stance towards sin be a problem for David rather than a comfort?

David answers this question now by contrasting himself with ungodly people (“but I”). In doing so, he does not offer his innocence from sin as the key factor that distinguishes him from ungodly people. He offers another quality of Yahweh instead – his faithful, loyal love. David trusted in God’s own perfect righteousness rather than in his own attempts at self-righteousness.

For this reason and this reason alone, David knew he was able to enter God’s house rather than be turned away. The word sojourner or dwell refers to a temporary guest or visitor. So, David is saying that God is so intolerant of sin that an ungodly person is unable to even come into his presence briefly as a guest, what’s more as a permanent friend.

For this reason, David bowed towards God’s temple in respectful, reverential awe. Those who trust in God’s righteousness should be in awe of his holiness, while those who are self-reliant and sinful should be afraid of his holiness.

After reminding himself of Yahweh’s faithful, loyal love for him, David asked for guidance from him as well. He asked God to lead him in the right way forward because his enemies were attempting to get him off course. By asking God to “make your way straight before his face,” he was asking God to turn a rocky, twisting road with many obstructions into a smooth, straight road with no obstructions.

This was an important request because David knew that he could not rely on other people this way. Ungodly people have nothing reliable to say – you can’t trust them. To make this point more clearly, David describes their words with a vivid illustration that traces your response to their speech, like a morsel of food, from their lips to their stomach (or technically from the stomach to their lips).

• If you follow the guidance of ungodly people, you can expect to be digested by their stomachs and intestines (their “insides,” “inner parts,” “inner organs,” or “guts”).
• You’ll walk into an open grave, like a morsel of food enters into our esophagus.
• You’ll experience this disaster somewhat by surprise as you slide down rather than take deliberate steps.

In other words, getting advice from nonbelievers is like falling into a trap door. You think you’re taking a step towards progress and success, but once you follow their advice, you slide down the slipper shoot of their tongue into an open grave where you are digested and devoured in darkness by maggots instead.

When you follow the guidance of an ungodly person, you’ll be destroyed much like a morsel of food slips down the tongue, through the throat, and into the digestive tract. That’s why David sought the Lord’s reliable guidance instead. He wanted to be led by a holy God who cannot tolerate sin.

Are you – like David – relying upon God’s faithful love towards you or are you relying upon your own efforts to please him?

Also, how much of your decisions in life are based upon advice from ungodly people, people who are not genuine followers of Christ? To the degree that you are following ungodly advice, you are on a slippery slope to an untimely death. Let me encourage you to tune out ungodly advice and to find someone who can give you biblical, godly advice from God’s own Word. This is how God will guide you, and you can trust what he says because he is holy.

They celebrate the blessing of his protection.

Condemn them, God;

             let them fall by their own schemes.

In the abundance of their sins banish them,

             for they have rebelled against you.

But let all who seek refuge in you be glad;

             forever may they shout for joy!

And spread your protection over them,

             and let them rejoice in you – those who love your name!

For you bless the righteous person, Yahweh;

             like a shield you surround him with favor.

Psalm 5:10-12

After savoring God’s revulsion towards sin and seeking his reliable guidance, David asked God to condemn the ungodly people who were forming strategies against him. He even explains how he wants God to condemn. Rather that devise some clever strategies to outwit them, he wants them to fall as a result of their own evil schemes. Why cook up complex strategies when their own strategies can defeat them already? He wants their own deceptions to deceive them and their own violence to kill them.

David intensifies his request by asking God to banish them completely, not only from his immediate presence as he previously described, but from his kingdom entirely. Since God hates sin so completely and they have sinned against him and rebelled against him so greatly, this seems like the most logical conclusion.

It’s important to recognize here that David does not request God’s removal of sinful people on the basis of their rebellion against David but on the basis of their rebellion against God. David was not speaking to God out of personal offense or jealousy. He was speaking to God in defense of God’s own holiness.

Once again, David contrasts himself (and all who are like him) with the ungodly (“but I”). What differentiates David (and people like him) from the ungodly? They “seek refuge” in Yahweh. This means that they rely upon God for their righteousness, guidance, and protection rather than rebel against him.

When we rely upon God rather than rebel against him, we have every reason and right to celebrate. David emphasizes such an enthusiastic, optimistic attitude with a threefold sequence of “happiness” words – be glad, then shout for joy, then rejoice. Remember the threefold expressions of prayer at the start of this song? Here we have a threefold expression of praise at the end of this song!

This glad attitude is both felt inwardly and expressed outwardly. Furthermore, it should not be temporary but should last forever. Finally, it should be inspired by God’s protection over them. Who needs a physical shield when you have Yahweh surrounding you, the very God who spoke the world into existence, parted the Red Sea, and walked on water?  He even rose from the dead and will judge the world in the end!

If your enemies are sinners rebelling against God, since God hates sin so completely, and when you are relying upon God completely for your righteousness and guidance, then you can rest assured that God will protect you. He will bless you and surround you with his favor like a shield. Why? Because your righteousness is his righteousness. When you are relying upon him, your enemies are his enemies. There’s no safer place than that.

Will you begin your day by relying on God in prayer?

Knowing this, we can wake upon in the morning and express our fears and confidence to God. Before we’re confronted with yet another round of deception, violence, and sin by the ungodly people around us, we should savor God’s revulsion against sin and seek his guidance for our lives. When we do, focus on him this way, we can wait and look expectantly for his deliverance with a song in our hearts and a smile on our face.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if we all woke up tomorrow and prayed this way to God to start each day this week? And if we watched carefully and expectantly to see what he would do throughout each day? In fact, let’s plan to share testimonies in church next Sunday about ways that God answered your prayers, guided your steps, and intervened in your life!