For the leader; with wind instruments. A psalm of David.
I
Give ear to my words, O Lord;
understand my sighing.
Attend to the sound of my cry,
my king and my God!
For to you I will pray, Lord;
in the morning you will hear my voice;
in the morning I will plead before you and wait.
II
You are not a god who delights in evil;
no wicked person finds refuge with you;
the arrogant cannot stand before you eyes.
You hate all who do evil;
you destroy those who speak falsely.
A bloody and fraudulent man
the Lord abhors.
III
But I, through the abundance of your mercy,
will enter into your house.
I will bow down toward your holy sanctuary
out of fear of you.
Lord, guide me in your justice because of my foes;
make straight your way before me.
IV
For there is no sincerity in their mouth;
their heart is corrupt.
Their throat is an open grave;
on their tongue are subtle lies.
Declare them guilty, God;
make them fall by their own devices.
Drive them out for their many sins;
for they have rebelled against you.
V
Then all who trust in you will be glad
and forever shout for joy.
You will protect them and those will rejoice in you
who love your name.
For you, Lord, bless the just one;
you surround him with favor like a shield.
Psalms 5:1-13
Don’t you love the way the psalmist uses the first person perspective to ask for blessings or promise prayers but the third person perspective to describe sinful people? It makes it so easy for us to relate to the righteous self-image that we all want to enjoy. “For to you I will pray, Lord;” but those other people are terrible sinners.
With that realization, I notice that the third line of section II says, “the arrogant cannot stand before your eyes.” I think that is the part that jumped out at me when I initially read this psalm because humility has always been a virtue that I struggle to achieve. It is so easy to become prideful, even in our prayer lives. I almost hear myself shouting, “Hey, look at me, God. I’m praying this morning. Now am I better than all those other people?”
But of course, that’s not the point, is it? So I try to remember to stop patting myself on the back. I throw in the occasional prayer for help with humility. Then one of the devotionals I was reading one morning mentioned the Jesus prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” So I started ending every prayer journal entry with that prayer. I’m hoping that one day it will sink in enough to help me feel good about that virtue of humility.
So thankfully, section III asks God for guidance toward justice and the grace to follow God’s path. This is a comfort before section IV describes those other people again. This time it hits rather close to home again, “on their tongue are subtle lies.” Uh-oh. That might be another easy pitfall for all of us.
What is a “subtle lie?” Is that what happens when we spin the true story just enough to avoid accepting blame for a problem? Maybe it is what happens when we find ourselves in a gossip session about someone we don’t really like very much. Could it be a less-than-sincere examination of conscience?
But fear not! In section V we are reminded that, “all who trust in you (meaning God) will be glad and forever shout for joy.” Of course we are all sinners, just by our human nature. Only Mary and Jesus had the grace to live a human life free of sin. But we have God’s eternal grace and mercy; God’s infinite forgiveness is on our side. “For you, Lord, bless the just one; you surround him with favor like a shield.”
Amen! Alleluia! Praise be to God!!