"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.
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.
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.
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.
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 favour as with a shield."
Psalm 5
We look now in greater detail at what the Psalm says about communion with God. There are different kinds of prayer, spoken and unspoken, words, meditation (1), and cry (2). Silent thought can be spread out before God without words. Thus, in 3, 'In the morn- ing Thou shalt hear my voice' comes before 'I will order my prayer before Thee'. This means, when the heart is meditating, the ear of God is open, and ready for us when meditation becomes vocal and articulate. The reality of this communion is indicated in the words 'my King, and my God' (2). The thought of 'ordering' his prayer is also significant. The word is used of arranging the materials for the morning sacrifice on the altar of the Lord. To the Psalmist, prayer is worship beautiful thought - not a question of rushing in blindly or in urgent panic, but ordering his prayer in a spirit of worship. Nothing here of prayer as a last desperate resort, but the natural and instinctive expression of a heart confidence in a real God, that flows from real communion with Him. The prayer itself, in 8, expresses not so much fear of falling into his enemies' hands as fear that, 'if left to himself, he may take some step which will give them occasion for malicious joy in his fall or his calamity' (Maclaren). Many eyes are upon the God-fearing soul, watching for the first mistake, the first fall. 'Plain' in 8 does not mean 'unambiguous' or 'obvious', but 'level', 'free from stumbling-blocks' (cf 'I will make all My mountains a way', Isaiah 49:11). The expectation of an answer to his prayer (this is the force of 'look up' in 3; it means 'keep watch', for he is on the outlook for an answer!) leads inevitably to joy and peace. We should observe the terms used in these verses: 'put their trust' is one of the characteristic words in the Old Testament for faith, and has the force of 'fleeing as to a refuge'; 'love Thy Name' is an eloquent description of the believer; no cerebral or merely intellectual assent to doctrine here, but real heart involvement; only thus can men be truly called 'righteous'. Faith, love, righteousness - these are the only true bases of joy and peace.