Surround Us With Your Favor As With A Shield (Psalm 5)

¹ Listen to my words, Lord,
consider my lament.
² Hear my cry for help,
my King and my God,
for to you I pray.

³ In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;
in the morning I lay my requests before you
and wait expectantly.
⁴ For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness;
with you, evil people are not welcome.
⁵ The arrogant cannot stand
in your presence.
You hate all who do wrong;
⁶     you destroy those who tell lies.
The bloodthirsty and deceitful
you, Lord, detest.
⁷ But I, by your great love,
can come into your house;
in reverence I bow down
toward your holy temple.

⁸ Lead me, Lord, in your righteousness
because of my enemies—
make your way straight before me.
⁹ Not a word from their mouth can be trusted;
their heart is filled with malice.
Their throat is an open grave;
with their tongues they tell lies.
¹⁰ Declare them guilty, O God!
Let their intrigues be their downfall.
Banish them for their many sins,
for they have rebelled against you.
¹¹ But let all who take refuge in you be glad;
let them ever sing for joy.
Spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may rejoice in you.

¹² Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous;
you surround them with your favor as with a shield.

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Yet another psalm of deliverance from the enemies.  I will reiterate what I’ve said over the past few days regarding Psalm 3 and 4, that the enemies for us are not people, but rather the spiritual enemies that plague us because we are sinful people living in a sinful world.  We contend with these enemies daily, and in the difficult times in which we are now living, we may feel their presence more acutely.  The enemy of fear, doubt, guilt, resentment or despair.  The temptation to take the Lord for granted or to put Him to the test.  And then there is the very real spiritual oppression waged by the evil one upon the people of God.

Psalm 4, our focus yesterday, concluded with lying down in peace.  Psalm 5 depict waking up in the morning with a prayer of lament.

Before decrying his enemies, David points out that the wicked, the arrogant, and the wrong-doers cannot stand in the presence of God, and so can expect nothing from Him because of their guilt.  This is true. Our God is a God of righteous judgment and justice.  But notice what David says next:  “But I, by your great love, can come into your house.”  Notice that he doesn’t say, “I, by my great righteousness,” but rather “I, by your great love.”

Of ourselves, we are unworthy to lay our lament before the Lord.  But because of His love for us, manifest in his grace toward us in Jesus Christ, we have access to the throne of our King.  We do not come before him in our guilt, but rather in the righteousness which our Lord has given to us by His grace through faith in Jesus Christ.  And so we can come before the Lord, like David, with boldness and confidence.  He will hear and answer our lament because of His great love in Jesus Christ for us.

And so once again we join with David and pray that God deal with the spiritual enemies in our lives.  But for ourselves, we pray for His protection, that He would indeed surround us with His favor as a shield.

 NOTE:

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