Knowing The Word in Psalm 5

Lead Me in Your Righteousness

To the choirmaster: for the flutes. A Psalm of David.

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.

Comments

There is an urgent expectation in this psalm that God will act because of the writer’s relationship with him and because the writer is a right worshipper of God. This is another lament psalm and the first in which there are prayers for the personal downfall the enemies, whose throats are “an open grave.” They are dead inside, breathe out death, and smell like death. They are the opposite of God. In closing, the psalmist returns to the theme that God’s blessing will fall on the righteous.

Prayer

Lord God, our beginning and our end: you were with us at our birth, be with us through our life: you are with us through our life, be with us at our death: and because your love and mercy will not leave us then, help us to pass through death and rise to everlasting life with you.

Friends of Christ Church Moss Side