Dwell in the Word: Psalm 5

Consider these questions as you dwell in Psalm 5 today:

1. How does David contrast himself with his enemies in this Psalm, and what does this reveal about his relationship with God?

2. Why does David call for justice in this Psalm, and how does this request align with his role as God's anointed one?

3. How does the speaker connect the themes of righteousness, protection, and rejoicing to Jesus Christ in the context of this Psalm?

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Transcript:

When we think of the Psalms, what do we normally think of? We think of Psalms of praise, right? The idea of praising God because this is a Book of Praise. It's a Book of prayers. That's what we expect. But we really haven't seen much of that yet, have we? Sure, there is ascribing of glory and honor to God, but we have seen a lot of crying out to God, haven't we? We see that here in this Psalm as well. The Psalmist asks for God to hear and consider his groaning, to give attention to the sound of his cry. The Psalmist, and we see here that it is David, he is experiencing very negative things, and he is going to God each day, calling out to him and asking for help. He knows that that is the source of his help. He cannot save himself. He needs God. We see that David is contrasting who he is versus those who are against him. He says, For you are not a God who delights in wickedness. Evil may not dwell with you. The bold shall not stand before your eyes. You hate all evildoers. These people who are going after David, they are doing evil in his eyes, and God is calling for him to stand against this.

 He wants God to destroy these lies and these ones who are after bloodshed and those who are deceitful. But David contrasts himself here, right? He says, But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house. In opposition to his enemies, David is doing the righteous thing. He's bowing down toward the Holy temple. He is fearing God. There is a contrast here. There is a contrast between David and his enemies. David is seeking God, but his enemies are deceitful and they are bloodthirsty. David continues to ask God to lead him, and he says, Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies. Make your way straight before me in opposition to the enemies of God, in opposition to the enemies that David has as well. He wants his way to be straight. He wants to stay on the path because the path of the wicked is destruction. There's no truth in them, and there is some strong language here. Their throat is an open grave. They flatter with their tongue. David calls out for justice. That is hard to hear, right? We live in a society that we don't really want to call people out.

 We really don't want to say anything negative about anyone. When David says to God, Make my enemies bear their guilt, let them fall by their own councils. David is not looking out for himself here ultimately. What is he doing? He is saying, They are in opposition to you, God, because David is the anointed one. He is the King, and they are opposing him, and they are also evil. They are deceitful. They're in opposition to God's law. David's call for justice here isn't necessarily self-serving, right? It does help him out, but he is the servant of God. He is calling for justice to be done by God's standards, not his own. He is acknowledging this here when he says, They have rebelled against you, God. He is asking God to be good to the protection of His King. But then he also uses another contrast, right? He has talked about those who are in opposition and rebellion against God, but those who are righteous, they take refuge in God. He says, Let them rejoiceice. Let them sing for joy and spread your protection over them that those who love your name may exalt in you, that they see this protection from God, and they are able to rejoiceice that they have God as their Lord, as the one who protects them.

 And so David ends this prayer with a statement of truth, where you bless the righteous, O Lord. You cover him with favor as with a shield. And so as we continue to think about how Jesus unlocks the Psalms for us, we know that David was not ultimately righteous, right? You don't even need to leave the sultar to see that. You can go to Psalm 51 and read his prayer of confession after the whole Bathsheba incident, and we know that David wasn't righteous. He wasn't perfect. And so we look to Christ here. Christ is the perfect one. Christ did all these things. He is the one who loved the name of the Lord. He was the one in whom there was perfect righteousness, and he was the one who were anyone who would oppose him would be in opposition to God because he was God, he was righteous. And so the righteous one, Jesus Christ, has won victory, and he is always on his throne. And when we are his children, when we are heirs with him in his resurrection and ascension, we know that we are united to him. And so we can truly say this Psalm and know that it applies to us.

 We can look for justice, not for us, but for the righteousness of God, and we can know that we are covered because Christ had the perfect righteousness that covers our sins. And so may we desire to serve God in humility and in faith as we go out into the world and we do the work of God that He has called us to do. So as we head out today, may we remember that Christ is the key, that He was perfectly righteous, and that He is the one in whom we rejoice, because He is our refuge.