Psalm 5 Psalms of Lament

New Series

Well today is day one of a very mini, very small series that is just three weeks long.

Its a series on the Psalms. And I think a little more specifically David’s Psalms.

And here is the deal. After the book of Revelation I think I was craving something that wasn't deeply layered in meaning, maybe something that was less intense… and was very clear cut so my heart and my mind kind of just gravitated toward the Psalms

MENS RETREAT

MARRIAGE RETREAT

And in a few weeks we are going to start a series on marriage and relationships…

That series will culminate in a marriage retreat here at REC: We are using something called prepare and enrich for this marriage retreat: Nov 15-16 (This is our first time running this kind of thing and we are working with the speaker, we might just do Nov 16th)

So we think your marriage is worth investing in, I’d love it right now if you guys would save the date…Mid November, 15-16 just open your calendar right now and block off the date….

And what we are doing is called prepare and enrich…So if you are on the track toward marriage this will help you

If you are already married, and maybe you think you already have a great marriage, well you dont have to be sick in order to get better…The idea is that you will walk out of here with concrete things in your marriage or relationship to grow…

So this costs us money to do, its $80 per couple and for us we tried to keep that as bare bones cost as possible, if you have kids there is child care the whole time, but there is an added cost to that…We are bringing in a Prepare & Enrich person to lead this retreat so what I want to say is invest in this day, your marriage is worth it…Get on to our website on events and register for this day

Ok Now lets get into our series on the Psalms

David:

So even if you you don’t know the story of King David, you have at least heard of David and Goliath.

This is the story of a young David who has a secret anointing to be the next king of Israel…And he goes to where his brothers are fighting and everyone in Israel including King Saul…Who Is Israel’s tallest guy…

They are too afraid to go fight the champion Goliath

But David, this young runt goes and fights Goliath and he wins.

David will eventually become the right hand man of king Saul

He will raise to prominence but then he gets a little too popular for Saul’s liking

So Saul tries to kill David

By the way this is just sort of the theme of David’s life

His life is marked by intensely good things and intensely bad things

He kills Goliath and he is a hero

His mentor and his King, Saul try to kill David.

David becomes king, then he sleeps with a married woman and kills his friend

David gets chased out of his own palace by one of his own sons who is doing a power play and trying to kill him

This is just the theme of David’s life

But here is the beautiful thing about what David does with his intense emotions

He takes his emotions and writes them out and brings them before the lord. Whatever they are. He brings them before the Lord.

And before we ever get into the Psalms today we are going to talk about Psalms of Lament and there is a point very crucial that I want to make before we get into it.

Today we are going to look at Psalm 5 and it is categorized as a Psalm of lament, Lament Psalms are about 20% of the book of Psalms.

The word Lament in Hebrew is almost visual, it means a deep sighing but also at the same time a meditation, it is a whisper or a murmuring… Like when everything is going wrong,..Things are just not right and you know it

Do you ever feel that way? Just a feeling of deep distress…Things are just not right!

But what the Psalms do is rightly direct our emotions

The Psalms reveal how we can bring our emotions before God for worship

However. This is such an impotrant note…Beginning with the romantic philosopher Rousseau…He is kind of one of the fathers of where we are at today in our society…

He is kind of the founding father of expressive individualism…

And that is to give your feelings authority in your life…

This is an impotrant note.

Your feelings matter, and what your feeling is often times very true to you

But your emotions are not the truth.

Sometime in the 90’s you have a lot of cultural figures start using the phrase “My Truth”

And that is to give authority to emotions as truth…

But the reality that we have to understand going into the psalms is What Jeremiah 17:9 says

Jeremiah 17:9 NIV

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

Sometimes what your feeling is just what your feeling, and it can be great or it can be terrible, but what you need to know is that while its important, its not the truth

So I think it is impotrant not to give the authority of Truth to our emotions but to take our emotions whatever they are and surrender them before the Lord.

So today we are starting with a Psalm of Lament…

Remember, David experienced intense Highs of emotions and intense lows.

So today we are going to be in Psalms of Lament…

Psalm 5…

Lament is: A song of mourning or sorrow. Laments may be occasioned by bereavement, personal trouble, national disaster or the judgment of God.

Psalm 5 NIV

For the director of music. For pipes. A psalm of David. Listen to my words, Lord, consider my lament. Hear my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly. For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness; with you, evil people are not welcome. The arrogant cannot stand in your presence. You hate all who do wrong; you destroy those who tell lies. The bloodthirsty and deceitful you, Lord, detest. But I, by your great love, can come into your house; in reverence I bow down toward your holy temple. Lead me, Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies— make your way straight before me. 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. Declare them guilty, O God! Let their intrigues be their downfall. Banish them for their many sins, for they have rebelled against you. 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. Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.

So you can kind of see some of the intense lows that David is facing here

He records his cry to God

So I want to break this down now lets look at V1-3

V1-3

Psalm 5:1–3 (NIV)

Listen to my words, Lord,

consider my lament.

Hear my cry for help,

my King and my God,

for to you I pray.

In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;

in the morning I lay my requests before you

and wait expectantly.

Do you see how this Lament starts with a cry for God to listen David?

The word used here is “Hagig” Lament means desperation and turmoil

If there is one thing that God can not do is stop listening…

But when you are going through life and it is tough, It doesn't feel like God is listening

See often times when we are going through times of despair that voice of doubt comes into our head and despair and doubt leads to depression…

In our depression sometimes we dont dry out to the Lord Your emotions will have you believe a lie that you are all alone..

And see david Knew the truth that even in his deepest despair…It is hard to know that God hears you…Burt that he does

Prayer is laying your requests before the lord & waiting expectantly

See righty there in the first three verses David is bringing his requests before God in the morning and then what he says is I will wait expectantly

We’ve grown accustomed to getting what we want when we want it…

But here David just lays it out before the lord and even in his pain he says, I will wait

The hardest times of waiting are when we are in pain…

A lament rightfully orients our emotions around the Lord and his Lordship over our lives

When I think of waiting expectantly, I think of this verse

Hebrews 11:6 says:

Hebrews 11:6 NIV

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

It takes faith to wait…It takes faith to not take matters into your own hands…

And it pleases God when you wait on him to move and when you trust him with all of the things in your life

Do you want to see God move more powerfully in your life? Maybe Meditate on Hebrews 11:6 for a while

When you pray, have faith that God hears you and will move

Sometimes You are praying for things that are not good for you or for others…

My daughter just turned 15, she is taking driver’s ed, she does not yet have her permit but we are finding empty parking lots and doing the drills and the skills

But one day we were on our way here…and she kind of jokingly said, DAD Can I drive?

Well…I delight in granting the requests of my children…I think as any good father does…

But this request is not good for her, or other people driving on the road or my insurance rates

My Point is pray and have faith but there are times that you have to realize that what you are asking for will Harm you and in your humanity you can not see it…

The faith part is abandoning your will to the father’s will and waiting on God…Not taking matters into your own hands!

The faith part is abandoning the outcome to the Lord.

See David is Israel’s greatest king for a reason. He honors God in his misery and in his joy and whatever he is experiencing he brings it to him.

This has been true in my own life

I have a standing prayer meeting on Monday's at 1:30pm. Every Monday I meet with someone from here and we pray. We pray for little things and we pray for huge things. And its always so much fun to be able to tell my prayer partner…Man look what God did…

Check this out!

So after we see David crying out to God

We now see David complain to God.

and before we get into David’s complaint I just want to tell you that in modern 21st century Christianity, did you know you're not aloud to complain?

I mean you can do it in the Bible but you can not do it here

Well there was this church that I used to go to every year for a conference and one year and they had a door had a door that said “Complaint Department” and it was in one part of the building and when you opened the door it just went to a wall….

The idea was that you are supposed to be tough and resilient and not have any complaints

Well many people dont know that the Lament or the complaint Psalms take up 59 out of the 150 Psalms…So a little over 25% of the book are psalms of lament

So I took a few yellow sticky notes and began writing down psalms of lament and I opened the door and started sticking all the psalms of lament all over the wall

Because I am mischievous but I legitimately wanted people to know that God can handle your complaint.

He is the king of the universe!

There is a quote from the Old Testament Theologian Walter Brueggemann

“The lament psalms offer impotrant resources for christian faith and ministry, even though they have been largely purged from the life and liturgy of the church. such purging attests to the alienation between the Bible and the church”

We have to deeply dive into psalms of lament

Psalm 5:4–6 (NIV) & 9-10

Psalm 5:4–6 NIV

For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness; with you, evil people are not welcome. The arrogant cannot stand in your presence. You hate all who do wrong; you destroy those who tell lies. The bloodthirsty and deceitful you, Lord, detest.

Psalm 5:9 NIV

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.

Psalm 5:10 NIV

Declare them guilty, O God! Let their intrigues be their downfall. Banish them for their many sins, for they have rebelled against you.

Most Scholars agree that what David is complaining about is the wickedness of his own son.

His son had sat outside the gate where people gather and had basically won the hearts of the people

You know the…Well if I was king, it wouldn't be that way!]

If I was in charge it would be different for you

So what does David do? He reminds God of his character and in reminding God of his own character he remembers God’s Character…

So even in the lament there is this recognition that:

In my sadness….In my misery…Do not become like those whom you are lamenting!

God still desires righteousness…

There are a few things that I want to point out that David Says…

Look at verse 6 again

The New International Version Psalm 5

you destroy those who tell lies.

The bloodthirsty and deceitful

you, LORD, detest.

David absolutely knows the character of God…

God is all truth.

God is not a man that he should lie.

Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me.

I mean on the last pages of the Bible this very sediment is echoed

Revelation 21:27 NIV

Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

This is why we need to train ourselves to be people of truth right here and now

A Lament pleads with God to live out His character and reminds us that we need to live out God’s character too.

David here knows the character of God and he knows that he has to live in accordance with it! That he can not become like the wicked

Not only does David beg the lord to act in accordance with his character he says hey Lord

Because of the lies, Their throat is an open grave

Declare them guilty!

Many laments in the Bible will ask God to punish the wicked

Its a way of begging the lord to make right all the things that have been wrong!

I mean how many times honestly have we been there…

There is a big injustice?

Someone makes you really mad

And modern Christianity has told you that this is unholy or wrong

or if you are upset or angry then you are lacking faith

Well the only thing about anger, depressing or being upset that didn't show faith is if you didn't trust the Lord with it!

God can handle your pain,

well lets look at verses 7-8

Psalm 5:7–8 NIV

But I, by your great love, can come into your house; in reverence I bow down toward your holy temple. Lead me, Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies— make your way straight before me.

A true lament moves you from pleas to praise

What David says here is Lord by your great Love. The word love here in Hebrew is Hesed: It is God’s character, loving kindness…

Because he is remembering God’s love and faithfulness

Sometimes the hard work of relationship with God is remembering

Its been a number of years but I used to do an exersize with people on remembering. It was that you would write out all that God has done in your life and you kind of begin to see it on a map and then you remember all that God has done for you

When you're going though a time of Lament & pain

It is hard to remember…It is hard to look past the pain

When you are walking though tough times in your life it is really easy to only focus on the negative parts, that parts that hurt you…Instead of the parts where God saved and redeemed you

This is what David is doing..>He is remembering God’s love & faithfulness

Desire for righteousness

Psalm 5:11–12 NIV

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. Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.

A lament reminds us that the Lord is our refuge

The Lord protects

take refuge in prayer

You are the shield of the righteous

Today I want to invite us to take refuge in communion

Luke 22:19–20 NIV

And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

Common Elements of a Lament

A direct address to God (Sometimes by a unique name or Title)

Stating the complaint or the problem

Appealing to God for a specific action, intervention, justice or vengeance

Commitment to the Lord’s righteous ways

Vow or promise to praise God or an expression of trust in God.