God’s Character/Our Only Hope (Psalm 5) ~ 20230813 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org
08/13 Psalm 5: God’s Character and Our Only Hope; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20230813_psalm-5.mp3
The Psalms are the songbook of the church. They offer us words to pray when we have no words, when we don’t know how or what to pray. They can fuel our devotion to the Lord. And if we understand them rightly, they point us to Jesus.
The first two Psalms together provide an introduction to the Psalms, and set up the contrast between the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked. Psalm 3 tells us that it was produced during David’s flight from his son Absalom. It is a prayer for rescue from his enemies. Psalm 4 gives us no historical connection, but it could have risen out of the same circumstance, expressing David’s inner turmoil as his character was maligned and lies and half-truths were circulating about him.
Possible Background; Ahithophel?
The prescript to Psalm 5 tells us that this is a Psalm of David, but it gives no other historical context. If we wanted to tie it to a concrete event, we might be able to make a connection with this same Absalom revolt from verse 10 ‘let them fall by their own counsels’. In 2 Samuel 15,
2 Samuel 15:31 And it was told David, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” And David said, “O LORD, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.”
Ahithophel was David’s counselor (2Sam15:12), grandfather of Bathsheba (2Sam.11:3; 23:34), a wise and well respected man (2Sam16:23), who turned to counsel Absalom against David.
Structure of Psalm 5
Psalm 5 is considered a morning prayer, because it says in verse 3 ‘O LORD in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.
Psalm 5 consists of 5 sections that alternate between the righteous one who cries out to the Lord, and the wicked who are subject to God’s wrath. Verse 1 ‘Give ear to my words, O Lord…’; verse 4 ‘you are not a God who delights in wickedness…’; verse 7 ‘I ...will enter your house…’; verse 9 ‘there is no truth in their mouth…’; verse 11 ‘let all who take refuge in you rejoice…’ The sections break down this way:
My Prayer (1-3)
Your Character (4-6)
My Desire (7-8)
Their Character (9-10)
Reward for All the Righteous (11-12)
My Prayer (1-3)
Psalm 5:
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.
David begins by asking to be heard. Give ear, consider, give attention to. His request takes the form of words; it begins with groaning, it becomes a cry, that takes the form of a prayer.
He lifts his prayer to the LORD; O YHWH; my King and my God; O YHWH. YHWH is the self-existent one, his covenant name God gave to his people. King David addresses him as ‘my King and my God’, bowing the knee to his supreme authority.
This is a morning prayer. Daniel prayed three times a day (Dan.6:10); some of the Psalms take the form of morning or evening prayers; when you lie down and when you rise (Ps.55:17; Deut.6:7). It’s a good discipline to seek the Lord when you lie down and when you rise.
David says that YHWH will hear with the implication that he will answer in the morning. In the morning he will prepare or set in order and watch. This word ‘to prepare or arrange or set in order’ can be used of sacrifice, as Abraham ‘set the wood in order’ on the altar to sacrifice Isaac (Gen.22:9), and in the tabernacle sacrifices the wood and the animals were to be ‘arranged’ on the altar (Lev.1:7-8). But the lampstand in the tabernacle was also to be ‘set in order’ or tended from morning till evening (Ex.27:27), and the bread of the presence on the table in the tabernacle was to be arranged daily (Ex.40:22-23). Armies were arranged or drawn up in battle lines (Judg.20:20). Job uses this word to set his words in order as a lawyer preparing to present his case;
Job 13:18 Behold, I have prepared my case; I know that I shall be in the right.
Job 23:4 I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments.
Job 33:5 [Elihu] Answer me, if you can; set your words in order before me; take your stand.
So in its Old Testament context, this could be talking about setting in order an offering, or it could be using the word more metaphorically about setting in order and arranging his thoughts and words, to present his case before the Lord. We saw that this Psalm has structure; it presents an organized thought that flows. We in less liturgical churches tend to be afraid of form or recitation; we tend to value spontaneity in our prayers over using written prayers. There is danger in both directions. Memorizing, reading or reciting prayers (like the Lord’s prayer) can become like a magic incantation; if we say the right words then the genie will come out of the bottle and do our bidding. Or it can be mindless repetition; we meaninglessly mouth the words without our minds tracking with what we are saying. Those are real dangers to be avoided.
But in the other direction, spontaneous prayers can be shallow and superficial, and can meander in incoherent directions without much focus or clarity. And without the structure that written prayers provide, our minds easily stray to random thoughts. Sometimes we complain that God never answers our prayers, but if someone asks what we prayed for, we would be hard pressed (or embarrassed) to lay out precisely what we asked for.
Try this; if you find your mind wandering when you pray, get pen and paper, arrange your thoughts in an orderly form, be intentional, prepare your legal argument to present before the Lord. Or take a Psalm and use it to structure your own prayer, reflecting on each line and making it your own.
And then watch expectantly for the answer. David says ‘I will present my case to you and then wait expectantly for an answer’ (NET). This word carries the idea of leaning forward to peer into the distance. It is the idea of a watchman;
Habakkuk 2:1 I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.
Your Character (4-6)
After requesting the Lord to answer, he grounds his request in the character of God.
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.
God is good. If God is good that means that he cannot delight in wickedness. He catalogs those things opposed to the character of God; wickedness, evil, the boastful, evildoers, those who speak lies, the bloodthirsty and deceitful.
Notice God’s response to those who are opposed to his character. He takes no delight in, he refuses to co-exist with, he does not allow to stand in his presence; he hates, he destroys, he abhors. This all sounds pretty intense! Those are strong words! God hates, God abhors. I thought God was love?
You have probably heard it said ‘God hates the sin but loves the sinner.’ I understand what that is attempting to communicate, but it is misleading. This passage says that God not only hates evil; he also hates the evildoer. That statement creates an artificial (and unbiblical) distinction between evil and the one who does evil, as if someone who commits murder is a good person who was compelled by some outside force to do something against his own character, and he is thus not responsible for his own action. It makes no sense to be angry at or to punish murder as if it were a personified independent entity detached from the person who committed the murder. The victim of the crime understands that it would not be loving or good to detach the crime committed from the person who committed the crime.
Jesus said what comes out of a man displays what is in the man (Mt.12:33-36; 15:18-19). A person who tells lies is a liar, a gossip, a slanderer. A person who murders is a murderer. A person who boasts is filled with pride. A person who lusts is an adulterer at heart.
It would be better to stick with the Scripture and say that ‘God is love, and that God is grieved by our sin, and that God so loved the world, sinful rebellious humanity, that he gave his only Son as a propitiation, because the wages of sin is death’.
God takes no delight in those who violate of his commands. He will not tolerate moral evil. He will crush all pride, he hates worthless meaningless vanity (or idolatry); he destroys those who speak falsehood; he abhors violent and crafty deceivers. People who do these things will be subject to his holy and good wrath.
This ought to give each of us reason to fear. How many of these things am I guilty of? If these are the things I do, then I am in the category of a wicked person, and justly deserve his holy hatred.
My Desire (7-8)
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.
David understands that it is not on his own merits that he can enter God’s presence. It is God’s covenant faithfulness to his own promises, his steadfast love, that he (and we) can enter in. The appropriate response to God’s steadfast love is bowing in holy fear. God ought to abhor me, to crush me. I am intrinsically no better than my enemies. I am a recipient of undeserved love, unearned favor. I stand in awe that he would extend grace to a sinner like me. So I ask ‘lead me in your righteousness, make your way straight before me. God’s love is transforming love. He changes us. He makes us new, he gives us a new heart, new desires. That which is most desirable is the presence of God.
This request is ‘because of my enemies’, because, apart from the grace of God, there go I. Because my enemies remind me that I am naturally inclined toward evil, lead me O LORD in your righteousness.
Their Character (9-10)
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.
Their mouth, their inmost self, their throat, their tongue. Notice the focus on words? They are characterized by lies, destruction, the open grave, whether open to receive their victims or to let out the stench they contain, and flattery or smooth tongued. Jesus said “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks ... I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Mt.12:34, 36-37). Paul references this passage to make his point that ‘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’ (Rom.3:10-14).
So the Psalmist asks God for justice. Not primarily because they have wronged him, but because they have sinned against God. His desires have changed; no longer primarily interested in his own vindication, but the vindication of God’s character. They are guilty of insurrection or revolt; they have bitterly rebelled against God himself. Unrepentant sinners will bear their own guilt and be cast out.
Reward for All the Righteous (11-12)
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.
What contrast! Here again we see, it is never on our own merits that we are safe; only when we flee to God for refuge can we find joy, because he spreads his own protection over us, protection from what we justly deserve.
We love his name, because his covenant name is a reminder that he has made promises to us, entered into relationship with us, he went to extravagant lengths to make us his own treasured possession. This Psalm begins and ends with the covenant name YHWH
YHWH is a rewarder of the just; those who have been justified by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. We are encircled in his good pleasure, wrapped in his delight as in a full-body shield. This Psalm begins with groaning, a cry, and a prayer; and ends with brightness, shouts of joy and exultant leaping for joy in the LORD.
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2023.08.13 Sermon Notes
Psalm 5; God’s Character and Our Only Hope
Psalm 5
My Prayer (1-3)
Your Character (4-6)
My Desire (7-8)
Their Character (9-10)
Reward for All the Righteous (11-12)
The king addresses YHWH as my King and my God
Psalm 5:2
In the morning I prepare, set in order, arrange…
(a sacrifice)
Genesis 22:9; Leviticus 1:7-8; Exodus 27:27; 40:22-23
(or my case)
Job 13:18; 23:4; 33:5
and watch
Habakkuk 2:1
God hates those who are opposed to his character
Psalm 5:4-6; Matthew 12:33-36; 15:18-19
We can only enter on the basis of his covenant love
Psalm 5:7-8
The tongue is a restless evil full of deadly poison
Psalm 5:9-10; James 3:8; Matthew 12:34-37; Romans 3:9-20
The only source of joy is fleeing to God for refuge
Psalm 5:11-12
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Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org