Give ear to my words, O Lord...

Psalm 5 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Give ear to my words, O Lord, Consider my groaning. ² Heed the sound of my cry for help, my King and my God, For to You I pray.
³ In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice;
In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch.

⁴ For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; No evil dwells with You.
⁵ The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity.
⁶ You destroy those who speak falsehood; The Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit.
⁷ But as for me, by Your abundant lovingkindness I will enter Your house, At Your holy temple I will bow in reverence for You.

⁸ O Lord, lead me in Your righteousness because of my foes; Make Your way straight before me. ⁹ There is nothing reliable in what they say; Their inward part is destruction itself.
Their throat is an open grave; They flatter with their tongue.
¹⁰ Hold them guilty, O God; By their own devices let them fall!
In the multitude of their transgressions thrust them out,
For they are rebellious against You.

¹¹ But let all who take refuge in You be glad, Let them ever sing for joy;
And may You shelter them, That those who love Your name may exult in You.
¹² For it is You who blesses the righteous man, O Lord, You surround him with favor as with a shield.

Circumstances don’t always align with the truth of the psalmist’s words and declaration. But that was true in the life of David, the author of this and many other psalms. David’s life was filled with peaks and valleys, tremendous highpoints and times of tremendous trials and difficulties. Although David lived under the old covenant, before Jesus finished work on the cross, he saw and lived in the promise of the kingdom of God. David is a great example of what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17:    we walk by faith, not by sight        In the presence of difficult times and in the presence of our enemies we need to look not at them, not at the circumstance, but rather we need to look to God, to declare and believe His promises.

In Psalm 37 David writes:   Do not fret because of evildoers, Be not envious toward wrongdoers.
 For they will wither quickly like the grass And fade like the green herb.
 Trust in the Lord and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
 Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart…Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.  Cease from anger and forsake wrath;
Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing.  For evildoers will be cut off, But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.  Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more;
And you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there.  But the humble will inherit the land And will delight themselves in abundant prosperity. The wicked plots against the righteous
And gnashes at him with his teeth. The Lord laughs at him, For He sees his day is coming.
 The wicked have drawn the sword and bent their bow To cast down the afflicted and the needy,
To slay those who are upright in conduct.  Their sword will enter their own heart, And their bows will be broken.  Better is the little of the righteous Than the abundance of many wicked.  For the arms of the wicked will be broken, But the Lord sustains the righteous.  The Lord knows the days of the blameless, And their inheritance will be forever.

There is one thing more that we who live under the new covenant of Christ need to do. One thing which seems to be missing from the heart of the psalmist because of his old covenant understanding and the fact that he engaged in very real life and death physical battles with his enemies. The psalmist often sought the destruction of his enemies. He often asked God to wipe them out. Jesus tells us how we are to view and respond to our enemies under the new covenant of grace in Matthew 5:43-48:        “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,  so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.  For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?  You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.      In Romans 12:19-21 Paul writes:  Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.  “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

It is true what the psalmist says in today’s text:     You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; No evil dwells with You.  The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity.  You destroy those who speak falsehood; The Lord abhors the man of  bloodshed and deceit.    But it is not their destruction we should seek. We should not glory in the judgment that awaits them. As the psalmist says we should: .  Cease from anger and forsake wrath; Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing.         When we respond to evil in anger or with anxiety it leads us into evil and sin. We rather are to overcome evil with good. Light always overcomes and dispels darkness. Jesus says:   “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.  “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.(Matthew 5:13-16)

Those who are unrighteous, those who choose darkness over light will one day reap the consequences of their actions and decisions. We though, should not rejoice in the judgment they will face. We should remember that we too were once counted among the enemies of God and Christ. We should remember the saying:   “There but for the grace of God go I.”

Making my prayer the prayer of the psalmist, I  say:    let all who take refuge in You be glad, Let them ever sing for joy; And may You shelter them, That those who love Your name may exult in You.  For it is You who blesses the righteous man, O Lord, You surround him with favor as with a shield. But also Lord in Your mercy and grace reveal Yourself, Your will and Jesus Christ the Savior to all who oppose both You and I. By Your grace and mercy, through the love with which You first loved me and by the power of the Holy Spirit, may I truly be a blessing to those who persecute me. May I be the light that shines in the darkness, that evil may indeed be overcome by good.  Amen