The Morning Plea for Mercy - Psalm 5:1-8

Psalm 5 The Morning Plea for Mercy 2019-06-09 Call to God for help with your concerns for the day In the town of Ashland, in southern Oregon, there is a set of water fountains just outside of Lithia Park. If you’re ever there on a hot summer day, I’d encourage you to pay a visit. But not to drink. I’d encourage you to stand nearby and watch. Watch as unsuspecting tourists go to the fountains and drink. Watch as the water touches their lips, and see the look of surprise and disgust as they realize the water tastes disgusting. The hope for refreshment is quickly curbed. Scripture Passage: Psalm 5:1-12 We too often turn to the wrong places for refreshment. In our passage of study this morning, we see David setting out a wonderful example of looking to the right place for refreshment, encouragement, and direction. He looks to the Lord. Call to God for help with your concerns for the day. Calling, Preparing, and Watching (vv.1-3) 1. vv.1-2 “Give ear to my words, O LORD…consider…give attention…” 2. v.3 “O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.” David was intentional and methodical in his approach to prayer. To prepare an animal sacrifice required order, handling the animal and presenting it a certain way. Just read Leviticus 1. David approached his offering of prayer with the same intentionality. 1. How does the saying go, “To fail to prepare is to prepare to…”? So let’s just stop here and ask the question - are you failing at prayer? I don’t mean are you not praying like you want to pray. I think every true believer would say they’re not where they would like to be in their prayer life. But are you failing at prayer? Do days go by where you are prayer-less, except for a quick rote prayer before a meal? When hard news comes or difficulties arise, is your response to call to God, or to turn into yourself? I think we’d be greatly aided to do as David does, and prepare our prayer. 2. David doesn’t only prepare his prayer, but he also watches. This means that after his prayer has been lifted up, he waits and watches and looks for how God will answer the prayer. I think one of the reasons we fail to prepare in prayer is because we fail to watch for the answers to prayer. When we fail to watch for God to answer, we fail to recognize God’s working, and so are discouraged in prayer. Transition: As David sets out in his morning prayer, he not only calls to God, but he also remembers the God to which he prays. Coming into the presence of God he is overwhelmed by the holiness and perfection of God. Remembering (vv.4-6) 1. v.4 “For you are not a God who delights in wickedness…” - As we approach God in prayer, isn’t it right that we would recognize and meditate on the holiness of God? The more I read through and meditated on this psalm, the more I became convinced that David didn’t have his enemies directly in view in vv.4-6. This isn’t a statement about his enemies (he gets to that in vv.9-10), but a statement about his God and the vast difference between God’s holiness and man’s wickedness. 1. Notice David’s increasing awareness of God’s holiness and God’s increasing response to sin. From not delighting to not dwelling to not standing to hating to destroying to abhorring. 1. Do you think you’d be helped by beginning your day considering the holiness of God? I think too often we have a less severe estimation of the sinfulness of sin because we have a lower estimation of the holiness of God. It’s only when we’ve handled the perfect standard that we are no longer amused by imitations. Bowing and Beseeching (vv.7-8) 1. v.7 “But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house.” - Having considered the holiness of God, David realizes there’s a problem. God is holy, and David is not. How can he commune with God? Only through the abundance of God’s steadfast love. 1. Luke 18:9-14 The parable Jesus told about the Pharisee and the tax collector. 2. Exodus 34:6–7 “The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.’” 3. Psalm 136 God’s work in all of history has been the expression of his steadfast love. 4. David would enter into the presence of the Lord, into the house and holy temple, the dwelling place of God, through the steadfast love of God. Interestingly, there was no actual physical temple when David wrote this. Hebrews 9:11-15 Christ entered into the holy place to offer his blood for our atonement, so that we may receive the promised eternal inheritance. 2. v.8 “Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me.” - Here we get to the first real petition in this psalm. David’s request is that God would lead him in righteousness, that the right path would be laid out before him, smooth and level to walk on. Transition: David’s petition for help because of his enemies then brings him to pray specifically concerning his enemies. Proclaiming (vv.9-10) 1. v.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.” - This is a description of who they are and what they do. Death, destruction, and deceit. 1. flatter - they speak smooth words, slippery words 2. Davids’ enemies, instead of calling out to God with their mouths, are sinning against God with their mouths. 2. v.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.” 1. Certainly they were David’s enemies, but David isn’t seeking vengeance. David recognizes that they have rebelled against God (v.10), so he prays that God’s righteous judgment would come down. 2. Andrew Bonar wrote, “not in any spirit of revenge; not from want of tender love to souls, but from intense earnestness of concern for the glory of his God. We consider this explanation to be the real key that opens all the difficult passages in this book, where curses seem to be called for on the head of the ungodly.” This, then, is David proclaiming what will come of his enemies, who are his enemies because they are first and foremost God’s enemies. They have set themselves in rebellion against God, so they can only expect the judgment of God. Transition: David then ends this psalm with a glad gospel reminder. God’s enemies can expect judgement, but those who seek refuge in God can expect blessing. Rejoicing (vv.11-12) 1. v.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.” - Here is the difference. The enemies of God are obstinate and rebellious. But David, and those like him, have taken refuge in God. They have traded rebellion against God for refuge in God. 1. David’s prayer is that those who love God’s name may exult in him. To love God’s name is to love God, to love his ways and his works. This is David’s morning plea, that in God’s steadfast love he would be able to walk under the protection of God, in love for God, and exultation in God. 2. v.12 “For you bless the righteous, O LORD; you cover him with favor as with a shield.” - David knows the faithfulness and goodness of God, that he blesses the righteous. And the recognition of God’s favor serves as a shield of protection for all those who delight in God. 1. This shield was a large, standing shield that would give defense against whatever the enemy would assault with. 2. Isn’t this a great way to go out into your day, protected with the shield of God’s favor? This is yours! Teenagers, think about when you are able to drive, and you’re given the keys for the day. Favor! Would you trade the car keys for a tricycle? No! To do so would be to give up something so much better for something so inferior. That’s the way God’s favor works. 1. 1 John 2:15 “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Conclusion: Church, let us cultivate in our lives this morning plea to God for mercy. Lay your concerns and needs before him at the very outset of your day. Prepare the morning sacrifice, and watch how God will answer. y l i m Fa 23-25 Table Talk June 9, 2019 GOD’S TRUTH Call to God for help with your concerns for the day Family Discussion 1. Have you ever received something you’ve been really excited about? What was it? What made you so excited about it? 2. Do you know what the word “inferior” means? Would you have considered trading that item you were so excited about for an item that was inferior? 3. Read Psalm 5:12. David says the righteous are covered with favor as with a shield. 4. What are some of the ways God has shown favor to you in the last 7 days? Share a few of these ways around the table. 5. What does the apostle paul say about the shield of faith? What does a shield do? 6. How does recognizing the favor of God act as a shield against the devil’s flaming darts? Key Verse “O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.” Psalm 5:3 ESV TABLE READING Lead your kids into God’s Word... 3. Psalm 5:12 5. Ephesians 6:16 for the older readers to study further, i’d recommend reading thomas chalmers’ writing titled, “the expulsive power of a new affection”. it can be found online for free. Scripture Memory: Psalm 1:3-4 “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” - Deuteronomy 6:6-9 (ESV)