Psalm 5:1-2 (God Keeps and Guides His Own)

Introduction

“Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King!”

Have you ever really thought about some of the songs we sing at Christmastime? “Joy to the World” is one of my favorites, but it’s not just a Christmas song.

In fact, some have argued that it’s not a Christmas song at all… because it’s really about the second coming of Christ, when He comes to judge and to save.

Isaac Watts penned the lyrics in 1719, and he borrowed from the words and themes of Psalm 98, which focuses on the LORD’s “salvation” and the LORD’s “King” who has come to “judge” the world. Therefore, according to Watts (who wrote the song), “Joy to the World” is definitely about Christ’s second coming.

But I think it is a false dichotomy to separate Christ’s first coming from His second.

We should definitely distinguish them – Christ came the first time to save believing sinners by living and dying in their place, and Christ will come a second time to destroy unbelieving sinners by pouring out His wrath.

But we should not separate them – Christ was (when He came the first time) the newborn King and the Savior who reigns… and He remains the Savior-King today… and He will still be on the last day (when He comes the second and final time).

As I’ve said before, there is an “already, and not yet” feature of the gospel of Christ that is critical for understanding what Christ has done and what He will do.

Christ has ALREADY justified many sinners by dying in their place, but NOT everyone for whom Christ died has YET experienced justification in real time. Christ has ALREADY conquered death by being resurrected from the grave, but those who are dead in Christ right now have NOT YET experienced Christ’s resurrection for themselves.

These promises of the gospel are as sure as anything, but similar to those OT believers who were waiting for the promised Messiah in their day, we too (as NT believers) find ourselves waiting for the promised Messiah or Christ yet again.

Therefore, we can sing “Joy to the world, the Lord is come!” He has come, and there is great joy in that reality!

But we are still living in a world that is not (by and large) characterized by joy… and so we may also sing “O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel. That mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appear… O come, Desire of nations, bind all peoples in one heart and mind. Bid envy, strife, and quarrels cease. Fill the whole world with heaven's peace.”

This “already, and not yet” feature of the gospel of Christ is an important one to remember, but there’s another (related) one that’s even more often forgotten and/or misunderstood… and it’s a major theme of our psalm this morning – Ps. 5.

Our psalm for today is what Bible nerds call an imprecatory psalm.

This comes from the Latin word imprecari, which means to invoke or call down a curse upon someone. For example, the psalmist (in Psalm 10) prays that God will “break the arm of the wicked and the evildoer” (Ps. 10:15). And (in Psalm 17) he prays, “Arise, O LORD! Confront [the wicked], subdue him! Deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword” (Ps. 17:13).

It is often forgotten (or misunderstood) that God’s salvation of His people must also include judgment upon those who continue in rebellion against Him. God’s blessing for some comes along with God’s curse upon others.

Think of it this way: If a criminal breaks into my house to do harm to my wife and children, then love and kindness for my family means brutality and wrath upon the criminal.

So far, as we’ve gone through the first 4 psalms, we’ve seen a pleading and a reasoning with unrepentant sinners – “be wise… be warned… Kiss the Son, lest he be angry” (Ps. 2), or “how long will you love vain words and seek after lies? …[but] offer right [worship], and put your trust in the LORD” (Ps. 4).

Now we’ve come to a psalm that is absent of these calls for sinners to turn back, and instead, the psalmist is calling upon God to unleash His wrath.

“No more let sin and sorrow grow, nor thorns infest the ground.”

Friends, God’s blessing in Christ for His people necessarily includes God’s cursing upon those who live in opposition to Christ and His people.

Or as I’m summarizing it in the main idea today: We are utterly dependent upon God for His grace and love, for His guidance and protection, and we should regularly ask Him for such things… even sometimes for the demise of those in open and unrepentant rebellion against Christ.

May God help us to learn much from this psalm today, and may He answer our prayers.

Scripture Reading

Psalm 5:1–12 (ESV)

1 Give ear to my words, O LORD; consider my groaning. 2 Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray. 3 O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.

4 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. 5 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. 6 You destroy those who speak lies; the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

7 But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house. I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you.

8 Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me.

9 For there is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue. 10 Make them bear their guilt, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out, for they have rebelled against you.

11 But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you. 12 For you bless the righteous, O LORD; you cover him with favor as with a shield.

Main Idea:

We are utterly dependent upon God for His grace and love, for His guidance and protection, and we should regularly ask Him for such things… even sometimes for the demise of those in open and unrepentant rebellion against Christ.

Sermon

1. Hear My Prayer (v1-7)

This exemplary prayer teaches us (in these first 7 verses) that we are utterly dependent upon God for His grace and love, and it teaches us how we are to ask Him for such things.

It seems to me that this psalm (this prayer) is structured by two main requests – “Hear my prayer” (v1) and “Guide my path” (v8).

Each of these requests is followed by a rationale – “for” – one focused on God’s righteous character (v4-6) and the other focused on the bad or wicked character of sinners (v9-10).

And then each of these main requests also concludes with worship – the psalmist “enters” God’s “house” to “bow down” (v7), and he “takes refuge” in God and “rejoices” with “singing” (v11).

In other words, there are three movements (or progressions) as the psalmist unpacks each of these requests in his prayer. Let’s consider the first request (in v1-3) and the way the psalmist brings his appeal to God (v4-7).

First (in v1-3), there’s a sincere plea from a diligent and afflicted servant.

David (the psalmist) represents all believers throughout this psalm.

He is not an “evil” one who does “wickedness” (v4). He is not a “boastful” or “foolish” (KJV) or “arrogant” (NIV84) one who does “evil” (v5) or “works iniquity” (KJV). And he is not a speaker of “lies” who is “bloodthirsty” (v6).

Rather, he is a “groaning” one (v1) who speaks to the Lord “in the morning” (v3), who “prepares a sacrifice” to his God (v3), and who “cries” out to God as his “King” (v2).

Friends, there is much we might gain from these first few verses.

For one thing, we can learn that God’s people sometimes groan under affliction.

As we’ve noted quite a bit recently, there is no promise in Scripture that Christians will avoid hardship or sorrow or affliction in this life.

In fact, it is often those moments or seasons of groaning that prod us to better and more honest prayer.

Surely some of us can admit our tendency to forget God when things are going well… and we can testify that our hearts are all the more eager to come to God in prayer when things are going badly.

Brothers and sisters, here we have an exemplary prayer for how we ought to cry out to the Lord in our times of need… when we get a bad prognosis, when we lose someone we love, and when we face opposition from those who hate Christ and stand against us.

Another thing we learn from these opening verses is that our God is no deaf idol, but a living God who hears the cries of His people.

Spurgeon said, “Observe carefully these little pronouns, ‘my King, and my God.’ They are the soul and marrow of the plea. Here is a grand argument why God should answer prayer—because He is our King and our God. We are not foreigners to Him: He is the King of our country. And kings are expected to hear the appeals of their own people. We are not strangers to Him; we are His worshippers, and He is our God: ours by covenant, by promise, by oath, and by blood.”

Brothers and sisters, let’s remember that our God is better than any earthly king – He delights in hearing our pleas, and He is ready and willing to respond.

Yet another thing we can learn here is that the life of the believer ought to be marked by regular prayer and worship.

Friends, does God hear your voice in the morning?

Are you offering up the sacrifice of praise as a first thought on your mind and a first act of your mouth?

One old preacher said, “The morning is the fittest time for devotion [or spiritual disciplines, like prayer and Bible reading], you being then fresh in your spirits, and freest from distractions.”

Brothers and sisters, let’s make it a habit to begin our day with an acknowledgement that we are utterly dependent upon God… Let’s thank Him for His care through the night, let’s ask Him for His help to make it through the day, and let’s invite His wisdom and provision as we re-commit ourselves to love and serve Him well.

In the second movement of this first part of the prayer (in v4-6), there’s a rationale – a reason why God should hear the psalmist’s plea for vindication or defense – and it is God’s own character.

The psalmist asks for God’s ear in his time of affliction precisely because God is Himself set over and against those who are afflicting him.

As I said, this is an imprecatory psalm, a prayer of cursing.

The second section of this psalm (esp. v10) makes this more explicit, but here (in v4-6) we have the rationale for why God ought to act for the psalmist and against his opposition.

There are three pairs of descriptors for God’s posture toward the wicked.

First, God does not “delight in wickedness,” and “evil” does not “dwell” with Him (v4).

Second, God does not allow the “boastful” or the “foolish” or the “arrogant” to “stand before” His “eyes,” and He “hates all evildoers” (v5).

Third, God “destroys those who speak lies,” and He “abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man” (v6).

Friends, we must come to grips with the fact that God is not neutral (much less gentle or kind) toward hard-hearted and unrepentant sinners.

I’ve heard it said that “God hates the sin but loves the sinner.”

And this is certainly true of those sinners who are confessing their sin, turning from sin, and aiming their lives toward believing Christ and obeying His commands.

It is God’s love for undeserving sinners that moves Him toward them in grace and favor… making them spiritually alive so that they can respond with repentance and faith.

But it is not true that God loves all sinners the same – He “hates” those who are bent on disbelief and disobedience.

God looks graciously upon repenting and believing sinners, giving them undeserved blessing; but God looks furiously upon unrepentant and unbelieving sinners, aiming at them the justice and the curse they deserve.

Friend, is God looking at you right now with grace or with wrath?

How do you know?

And brothers and sisters, I wonder if your prayers ever sound like this?

Can you call out for God’s vindication against those who might set themselves against Christ and against you (as a Christian)?

Is your life different from those God is obligated (by the nature of His own character) to “hate,” to “abhor,” and to “destroy”?

Here David makes the malice and evil of his enemies an argument to enforce his prayer for God’s favor towards him.

The psalmist’s reasoning is grounded in God’s own nature.

Since righteousness and upright dealing are pleasing to God, David, from this, concludes that God will take vengeance (sooner or later) on all the unjust and wicked.

How is it possible for them to escape from God’s hand unpunished, if He is indeed the righteous judge?

But these verses (v4-6) also beg the question: How is David himself able to “enter” God’s “house” if he too is a guilty sinner?

In the third movement of this first section (in v7), there’s a grateful response of worship and fear (or reverence).

As I’ve already said, there is a big contrast throughout this prayer – a contrast between the psalmist himself and those who are afflicting him.

The psalmist is a “groaning” one (v1) who speaks to the Lord “in the morning” (v3), who “prepares a sacrifice” to his God (v3), and who “cries” out to God as his “King” (v2).

In other words, he is coming to God in the right way, and on God’s required terms.

But God’s terms always begin in grace!

The contrast (“But”) in v7 does not center on the psalmist’s own goodness or righteousness or worth, but upon “the abundance” of God’s own “steadfast love” (v7).

Friends, it is this understanding of God’s favor and God’s curse that evokes gratitude and worship and reverence in our hearts.

When we consider what we deserve from God (because of our own sin and disobedience), and when we think of what God has actually given to us (a loving invitation and welcome into His own “house” or “kingdom” or “presence”), what else can we do but respond with gratitude and worship and reverence?!

Brothers and sisters, we are utterly dependent upon God for His grace and love, and we are welcome to ask Him for such things. And God’s love for His own people is expressed both in welcoming them to Himself and also in defending them against those who would seek to do them harm.

This first section (or part) of the prayer we see in Psalm 5 teaches us that believers can and should come to God in prayer when we face opposition of various kinds in this world.

May God help us to look to Him and call out to Him!

2. Guide My Path (v8-12)

Because God is righteous and just, and because God is graciously loving, the psalmist now turns (in his prayer) to ask for a “straight” path and both “refuge” and “rejoicing.” Those who “enter” the “house” of God on the basis of His “steadfast love” now walk according to God’s “way” or “path,” and this requires the execution of divine justice, and it also leads to grateful rejoicing.

This exemplary prayer (in these next several verses) teaches us that we are dependent upon God for His guidance and protection, and it teaches us how to ask Him for such things… even sometimes for the demise of those in wicked rebellion.

We see (yet again) three movements in this second part of David’s prayer that God would hear him and lead him – (1) a request for faithfulness, (2) a call for justice, and (3) a conclusion of refuge and rejoicing (i.e., worship).

A request for faithfulness through God’s guidance and protection (v8).

See it there in v8: “Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me” (v8).

This is a prayer request for a “straight” path and God’s “righteous” protection against David’s enemies.

Let me note a couple of things here:

First, there is a Christian way of living (or walking), and it is according to God’s leadership (or guidance).

The psalmist is praying here for God’s leadership so that he will stay on the right course.

Remember the contrast of the righteous and the wicked.

(v4-6) The wicked path is the way of evil, of arrogance, and of deception.

(v1-3) But the righteous path is the way of dependence upon God, submission to Him, and worship/service according to His design/command.

Brothers and sisters, we must commit ourselves to stay the course of faithfulness, and we must ask for and depend upon God’s help to do it.

We need God to “lead” us – to lead us by His word (so that we will know what to do) and to lead us by His power (so that we will be able to do it).

Second, opposition can make it hard for us to stay the course.

Remember that the psalmist is here crying out for help “because of my enemies” (v8).

Brothers and sisters, when non-Christians around us (our friends, our co-workers, and even our family)… when non-Christians ridicule us for following Christ, when they push us to compromise on some sin, or when they oppose our efforts to remain faithful to Christ, it can be tempting to go the path of least resistance.

But here we are reminded that we can and should pray for God’s help during exactly those times.

Our feelings can act like a compass in a storm, where the electricity in the air throws the needle in random directions, but God’s word and presence are stabilizers which resolve the magnetic poles.

Indeed, it is a happy sign of God’s grace in us when (having matured in Christ) we are able to see clearly the right path before us… and we choose to give up our own way and walk according to God’s instead.

A call for justice against those who oppose God and His people (v9-10).

Here is the clearest and most obvious part of the psalm that makes it imprecatory – David invokes a curse upon his and God’s enemies.

v9 is a comprehensive description of their complete embrace of deceit and death – “there is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue.”

And v10 is a prayer for God’s curse upon them – “Make them bear their guilt, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out, for they have rebelled against you.”

Let me note a couple of things about these verses:

First, this description of rebellious sinners is the default setting of all sons and daughters of Adam.

The Apostle Paul picks up on the language of Psalm 5 (in the NT) when he gives the summary description of all humanity in Romans 3 – “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. [In summary,] There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Rom. 3:10-18).

The point is: this is not a description of some rare band of sinners who are particularly heinous, but a description of the common sinner who is more heinous and corrupted than we are likely to understand or admit.

Friends, sin and sinners are worse than we tend to think – not because there is some sin in them we do not know, but because we often measure the guilt of others by the standard of our own virtue or righteousness.

But this is not how God does it. He measures the guilt and corruption and wickedness of sin and sinners by the standard of His righteousness.

This should make us tremble under the weight of our own guilt, and it should also make us a bit more cautious about excusing sin in others.

Second, it is at least sometimes OK to pray for the demise of those who are actively opposing Christ and His people in the world.

There are some who look at the imprecatory psalms and think that Christians should never imitate the psalmist when he prays in this way.

Since we are prone to assume that our enemies (people we don’t like, people who offend us, people who wrong us) are the same as God’s enemies, we ought not pray a curse upon any sinner.

One preacher said, “Those words were made only to fit David’s mouth. I have the like breath, but not the same spirit to speak them. I will not flatter myself, that it is lawful for me to curse God’s enemies, lest my deceitful heart entitle mine enemies to be His.”

I think this is certainly a good caution, but I don’t think this means we should never pray against the hardened and actively wicked in this world.

It is right for Christians to cry out for justice and to call down God’s wrath, since God’s glory is displayed in His righteous judgment as well as His gracious salvation.

Not long ago, we studied through the book of Revelation, and there we learned that those saints who have died for their faithfulness to Christ are right now pleading with the Lord to vindicate them (Rev. 8:2-5).

When we pray for God’s justice against sinners, we are not asking for revenge, but for vindication – vindication of God’s own righteousness and vindication of His people.

Friends, on the last day, when God’s righteous justice is poured out upon all unrepentant sinners, we will not weep for them, but we will praise God for His goodness.

One preacher warned sinners of this very thing, saying, “O impenitent man, be it known that all your godly friends will give their solemn assent to the awful sentence of the Lord, which He shall pronounce upon you in the day of doom! Our verdict shall applaud the condemning curse which the Judge of all the earth shall thunder against the godless.”

It seems to me that we must have a category for this kind of thinking.

If we do, then we will better be able to deal with our natural feelings of righteous indignation when we meet evil in the world.

And if we do, then we will be far more likely to feel a sense of reverent (or fearful) gratitude for the grace we receive from God.

Indeed, this is how this psalm of prayer concludes.

A conclusion of refuge and rejoicing [i.e., worship] (v11-12).

Like the first section (or part) of this prayer, the psalmist concludes the second part with worship… but here the emphasis is on a grateful response of praise for the salvation of the righteous through God’s judgment and destruction of the wicked.

The psalmist prays (in v11-12), “let all who take refuge in you [God] rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you. For you bless the righteous, O LORD; you cover him with favor as with a shield.”

Let’s conclude our time this morning by recognizing the end or conclusion or ultimate purpose of God’s dealing kindly with His people and His dealing justly with those who stand against them.

Those who “take refuge” in God, those who are “protected” by Him, and those who are “covered” by God’s “shield” and “blessing” respond with “rejoicing,” with “singing,” and with “exultation.”

Friends, God does not save us from sin or from our enemies so that we can go on about our business as usual.

God saves and rescues and shields His people so that they will worship Him and serve Him.

Like the OT people of Israel, when God sent Moses to deliver them from their slave masters and persecutors in Egypt, saying, “Let us go… that we may [worship] the LORD our God” (Ex. 3:18), so too the NT people of God have been led out of captivity under sin and sinners by the better Moses (the Lord Jesus Christ), and He has and will deliver us so that we may worship Him.

Conclusion

Brothers and sisters, we depend on God for His grace and His love, for His guidance and His protection, and we ought to regularly come to Him in prayer and praise – prayer, asking for all that we need from Him, and praise, worshipping and thanking Him for His provision.

So too, we ought to remember that God makes a clear and meaningful distinction between His own people and everyone else. This should give us confidence to pray for God’s blessings for us… and to pray (with humility) for His action against those who oppose God’s will and His people in the world.

May God help us to be a regularly praying people, and may He grant us what we ask of Him… according to His will and the riches of His grace.