Do you talk to God? I mean really have a conversation with Him. That’s pouring out your heart. I’m not talking about repeated mumbled recitations. That’s worshiping like the pagans do. No, if you go to God with a repentant heart, ask Him for forgiveness, He’ll grant it. King David makes it easy if we pray the Psalms. Let’s dig in…
Psalm 5
For the choir director: A psalm of David, to be accompanied by the flute.
1 O Lord, hear me as I pray;
pay attention to my groaning.
2 Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God,
for I pray to no one but you.
3 Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord.
Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly.4 O God, you take no pleasure in wickedness;
you cannot tolerate the sins of the wicked.
5 Therefore, the proud may not stand in your presence,
for you hate all who do evil.
6 You will destroy those who tell lies.
The Lord detests murderers and deceivers.7 Because of your unfailing love, I can enter your house;
I will worship at your Temple with deepest awe.
8 Lead me in the right path, O Lord,
or my enemies will conquer me.
Make your way plain for me to follow.9 My enemies cannot speak a truthful word.
Their deepest desire is to destroy others.
Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave.
Their tongues are filled with flattery.
10 O God, declare them guilty.
Let them be caught in their own traps.
Drive them away because of their many sins,
for they have rebelled against you.11 But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
Psalm 5 NLT
let them sing joyful praises forever.
Spread your protection over them,
that all who love your name may be filled with joy.
12 For you bless the godly, O Lord;
you surround them with your shield of love.
Key Points
- God hates ALL sins.
- The wicked don’t bow in humility.
- In judgment, God will destroy all sinners and wicked evildoers.
- Enter His church with deep awe. That is, have reverence for Him. Respect Him. Fear Him.
- The wicked people’s experience before God is different. Those who refuse to humble themselves before God will be humbled at some point.
- David assures God that he prays to no one but Him. Can YOU honestly say that? You can’t if you also pray to Mary and the saints. Dead people can’t help you. Only the living God, Jesus Christ can.
- Notice that David asks for God to make His way clear for him to follow. That means asking God to show you His will for your life. Furthermore, to commit all of your life to Him and allow Him to guide and direct you.
Where is the Gospel?
Here’s insight from Spoken Gospel from the free YouVersion Bible App...
Jesus picks up this language and imagery in several of his parables (Matthew 7:23). Multiple times, Jesus says that those not in his presence will be cast into outer darkness where there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12; see also 13:42, 22:13, 24:51, 25:30; Luke 13:28).
Jesus equates himself with the presence David longed for in our psalm (Matthew 11:27). Being with Jesus is being with the presence of God (John 14:9). The ultimate punishment for wickedness is being separated from Jesus (2 Thessalonians 1:9).
When we read these passages, we might wonder if we will be brought in or cast out of Jesus’ presence. After all, we’ve been proud, told lies, and are guilty like the wicked people David describes in Psalm 5. Nevertheless, even though we all deserve to be cast out from Jesus’ presence, we instead are brought into it.
This is because Jesus went through a similar journey into God’s presence that David describes in the psalm. David offered an animal sacrifice to gain entry into the tabernacle for himself. Jesus offered the sacrifice of his own body to earn entry into God’s presence for others (Hebrews 10:19). David bowed down in humility before God. Jesus bowed lower, in deeper humility, into the mouth of the grave (Philippians 2:8).
And when Jesus died, the barrier that separated God’s presence in the tabernacle from the rest of the world was torn down (Matthew 27:51). Now, all those who take refuge in Jesus can come near to his presence and sing for joy (Psalm 5:11).
Spoken Gospel
How to Pray Psalm 5
This one’s pretty verbatim. Again, these are my words, feel free to add your own.
O, Lord Jesus, hear me as I pray. Listen to my cry for help. I pray to no one but you! (You must mean this!) Listen to my voice in the morning as I bring my requests to you and wait patiently for your answer.
You will destroy the proud and the wicked liars and evil people, the murderers and deceivers.
I enter your house because of your unfailing love and worship you with deepest awe. Lead me in the right path, O Lord, make your way plain for me to follow.
Let the evil people be caught in their own traps.
I rejoice and sing praises forever. Spread your protection over me and fill me with abundant joy. Bless the godly and surround them with your shield of love.
Giselle Aguiar on Psalm 5
Psalm 6
For the choir director: A psalm of David, to be accompanied by an eight-stringed instrument.
1 O Lord, don’t rebuke me in your anger
or discipline me in your rage.
2 Have compassion on me, Lord, for I am weak.
Heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony.
3 I am sick at heart.
How long, O Lord, until you restore me?4 Return, O Lord, and rescue me.
Save me because of your unfailing love.
5 For the dead do not remember you.
Who can praise you from the grave (Sheol)?6 I am worn out from sobbing.
All night I flood my bed with weeping,
drenching it with my tears.
7 My vision is blurred by grief;
my eyes are worn out because of all my enemies.8 Go away, all you who do evil,
Psalm 6 NLT
for the Lord has heard my weeping.
9 The Lord has heard my plea;
the Lord will answer my prayer.
10 May all my enemies be disgraced and terrified.
May they suddenly turn back in shame.
Key Points
- This is a psalm of repentance.
- Every so often, God will give us a well-deserved smack upside the head. We are not to despise His discipline! Remember, He is a loving parent who wants us to live righteously — to behave — obey Him.
- I used to pray verse 2 when I was suffering from gout. It worked! It eventually went away. I had to change my diet, though. I thank Him for allowing me to discover the right nutrition plan.
- In death — hell — there is no memory of God. That is a sobering thought. Don’t you want to make sure that when you die, you’ll be with Jesus in eternity?
- God hears your plea. He will answer your prayer. Your prayer is answered in Jesus!
Where is the Gospel?
When things go bad it’s easy to think God is punishing us. Our experience feels like proof that God is against us and hopelessness is our only option. But David doesn’t just cry out, “How long, O, Lord?” He says his suffering is a challenge to God’s love and glory, and that God must address it. Like David we should also remind God that his love and his glory are on the line in our suffering. While this Psalm doesn’t record an answer to David’s prayer, ultimately David’s prayer is answered in Jesus.
Jesus used these words of David to describe his own inner anguish when he went to the cross (John 12:27). But unlike David, he does not ask God to deliver his life. Instead, he willingly goes to the cross out of love (John 3:16). And unlike David, who says going to the grave will rob God of glory, Jesus says that dying on the cross will glorify his name (John 12:28).
When Jesus went to the cross he actually did bear the wrath of God that David felt like he was bearing. But here we see what God is willing to do for the sake of his steadfast love. He is willing to go to the grave.
But death would not squelch all praise of God as David feared (Psalm 6:5). Instead, because Jesus went to the grave and rose again, when he returns every knee will bow and give praise to God (Philippians 2:10).
We can appeal to God’s steadfast love when we suffer because he always answers back with the Gospel. Like David, we can faithfully and boldly ask God to be merciful, to act, to save us because he has done it completely in Jesus. He has saved us from wrath and rescued us from the ultimate agony of the grave. Because Jesus was raised we can say with David, “The Lord has heard my cry for mercy” (Psalm 6:9).
Spoken Gospel
Pray to Jesus with a Repentant Heart
James, Jesus’ brother who was martyred not long after Jesus, wrote…
2 You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. 3 And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.
4 You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. 5 Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him. 6 And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say,
“God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble.”(Proverbs 3:34)7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. 9 Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.
James 4:2-10 NLT
God hates pride! And that’s just it. If you don’t humble yourself before Him. He will humble you. Believe me, you want to avoid that if all possible! For me, it was with 2 years of unemployment. He wanted me to trust Him completely, to surrender my life totally to Him. That means every single part of my life.
You can’t purify your heart by baby baptism, confessing to a priest, going through sacraments, watching the Eucharist, kissing a relic. NO! This is what you have to do…
Believe. Repent. Be Baptized. Receive the Holy Spirit.
- Believe — have Faith — that Jesus is the Christ and He died taking your sins away forever and that He rose from the dead 3 days later.
- Repent of your sins — stop sinning! Do a complete 180-degree turn in your life and surrender your life to Him. When you ask Jesus to forgive you He will. ALL your sins will be wiped clean — past, present, and future! And All means ALL!
- Be Baptized by water baptism — show the world and yourself that you have died to your old life and are born again in Christ.
- Receive the gift of Holy Spirit in your heart.