Psalm 5 (Summer of Psalms #3)

Have you ever held a diamond? If it was large enough, you probably pinched it between your forefinger and thumb and held it up to the light. And as you turned it, you started noticing things — a particular cut, a faint pinkish hue in the reflection, and then, with a small turn, a yellowish cast instead. The twinkle lands differently. Another facet appears. Holding that tiny rock, you realize there is far more to it than you first thought.

I see the Scriptures the same way. The Bible is like a diamond. Study it and you catch one coloring of God’s character, one facet of prayer, one thing He is calling you to do. Come back later and you see a different coloring, another facet, a nuance in a passage you thought you knew — and now it looks different in the light.

Psalm 5 is going to be that diamond for some of you today. You may see a different coloring in God’s character, another facet of prayer, and — for some of you — a much-needed reminder that God knows you, sees you, and loves you, and that He is calling you into prayer.

A Sad Song and a Prayer

Psalm 5 is written by David, and like Psalm 6 it is a psalm of lament. This is a sad song, and you notice it immediately — David’s desperation is right there in the opening lines, both external and internal.

Give ear to my words, O Lord; consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray. — Psalm 5:1–2 (ESV)

The superscription says “to the choirmaster: for the flutes,” so this was written to be sung. But it is also a prayer, and David tells us so from the very first line. So let us take this diamond and turn it — seven facets of prayer, because David models for us how to approach God.

1. Who to Pray To

This one is not hard. Verse 2: David prays to “my King and my God.” God is who we pray to. No surprise, right?

But it may surprise you if you grew up in a culture that practiced ancestral worship, or in a tradition that taught you to direct prayers to particular saints or other figures. David is being deliberate: I am not praying to another god. I am not praying to a deceased person. I am praying to my King and my God. When he says “for to you do I pray,” he means to you alone. Our prayers go to God alone.

2. Why Pray to God

I have known people who push back on that first facet. What they tell me is: “When I read the Scriptures, God seems scary. I am not comfortable coming to Him. I would rather pray to a saint, because at least God approves of them and they can carry my prayer up.” Or: “I pray to my grandma, because everyone loved her. God might turn me away, but He would never turn her away.”

David gives us two reasons to come straight to God.

First, because He is King. Look again at verse 2 and remember who is writing. This is David — either before he becomes king of Israel or while he is king. And here is the king saying, you, God, are my King. You are the true King over all things. King of kings.

And it is not only an earthly king who gets access to the heavenly King. Hebrews 4:16 tells us to approach the throne of grace with confidence — not confidence in who we are or what we have done, but in who God is, what He has done, and the fact that He invited us. When Jesus died, the curtain between the Holy of Holies and the rest of the temple tore from top to bottom. That curtain was three inches thick. No human could have torn it, and certainly not from the top down. God did that. It means His presence could come out to us, and we could come in. The King wants you there. Why would you go talk to anyone else?

Second, because He is good. Still, we think: this King is powerful, He can get angry, He has wrath. So look at verses 4–6: “You are not a God who delights in wickedness… You hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies. The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.”

I realize that is not the verse you are putting on a t-shirt. But it reveals something vital: God is just. And trust me, you want a God you can trust to be just. Think how impossible He would be to approach if He dealt with sin savagely one day and shrugged it off the next.

Now, deep down you are like me — you want God to go easy on your sin and come down hard on everyone else’s. Take them out, God. But me? Go easy. Yet deeper still, what we actually need is a God who is consistent and will not tolerate sin, because a just God is a trustworthy God. He is faithful. He is good. And knowing that should make us want to come to Him even though we know our own sin, because He is the one beckoning us in.

And that contradictory desire — leniency for me, severity toward sin — is completely satisfied at the cross. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says that Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin for us. God dealt with sin harshly and justly, and dealt with us in grace and mercy. Both at once, in Christ.

3. How to Pray

Years ago when I read Psalm 5, David struck me as demanding — like a kid tugging at his parents. Give ear to my words. Consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry. God, listen to me.

The more I studied it, the more I realized he is not being demanding. He is being desperate.

Too often we assume prayer has to be fancy — big flowing poetic language that somehow impresses God more. Let me tell you plainly: you cannot flatter God. You cannot wear Him down until He sighs and says, “Fine, you like me, I suppose I will listen.” What David shows us is that God can handle raw, honest prayer. He is simply crying help me, I need you. If you have ever been that desperate, you already know how to pray.

And yet, as raw as he is, David is also humble. Verse 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.” He knows he has no right in himself to walk into God’s presence. He is there only because of who God is and because God invited him. So he bows — and “in the fear of you” here means respect, honor, admiration. He is deferring. He is saying God, help me with this — and not my will, but yours.

So be honest with God. Be raw. He already knows what is on your heart, and it is worthless to water it down and pretend you are fine. Lay it out. But do it humbly, because He is a great God and you are not.

4. When to Pray

Verse 3: “O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.” So — mornings. That is the answer. Sort of.

From about September 2008 through October 2010 — it actually ran longer, but let us stop there — every single time my alarm went off, before I knew what day it was, before the noise even registered, before I remembered my own name, I was praying. I was praying about church planting. God had put that burden on my heart in September 2008 and I was wrestling with it. I did not think I could do it. Why was God doing this? It was going to wreck my family. I did not want to leave my friends. I loved my job. And the instant that alarm sounded I was asking God to take it away, or change me, or make it clear.

If you have ever been that overwhelmed, you know exactly what David and I are describing. Sometimes it is something wonderful — you still cannot believe she said yes, so you wake up saying God, thank you. More often it is the weight of something, and you wake up saying God, help me.

David knows that the moment he wakes he can bring it to God. Where the ESV says he prepares a sacrifice and watches, most translations render it that he brings his prayer — his prayer is the sacrifice. And then he watches, because only God can answer it.

It is not as though God has to finish His coffee before taking your call. At 3:00 in the morning, you can pray. At 3:00 in the afternoon, you can pray. Prayer is not restricted to mealtimes or a slot in your schedule. That is why 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says to pray without ceasing. If the burden is on you, lift it up — and if it is the same burden for the fiftieth or hundredth time, lift it up again.

5. What to Pray About

Anything and everything. But part of David’s anything-and-everything is praying about people who are against him. We glimpse it in verses 4–6 and see it plainly in verses 9–10.

What is striking is how he describes them. They are not merely against him — they are against truth, against kindness, against what is right, against anything good and beautiful. They are against God. Read 1 and 2 Samuel and you will find plenty of people who hated David and wanted him dead, so I am sure much of this is personal. But it reaches wider than that.

So if you have a boss treating you unfairly, pray about it. If someone is spreading lies about you, pray about it. If a neighbor or classmate simply will not like you no matter how kind you are, pray about it. Pray for wisdom in handling it — and yes, you can pray for justice. David clearly prayed that these people would face consequences.

But consider something better. What if the answer is not that God punishes your enemy, but that He changes your enemy? Romans 5 says that while we were still sinners — while we were still enemies of God — Christ died for us. If Christ shows kindness to His enemies, we should love ours. So rather than praying only for their destruction, pray for God’s will, and pray that His will would be their transformation. How glorious would it be for the person who was your enemy to become your brother or sister in Christ?

You can also pray that God changes the circumstance. Maybe He moves them out of that job. Maybe He moves you, and that is how He works it out.

One more thing, though. When we have conflict with someone we tend to assume automatically that they are the wicked one. But we have already established that we approach God humbly — and a humble heart prays, God, if it is not them who is wrong, show me whether it is me. And if I am wrong, change me. Pray that honestly, and if God reveals nothing and your conscience is clear, then go ahead and pray for Him to change them or the circumstance, and to give you wisdom to navigate it.

6. Who Can Pray

I wanted to make this facet number two, because it would have been fun: Who do we pray to? God. Who does the praying? Us. Done. But I saved it, because that is what David does — he comes to it in verses 11 and 12.

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. For you bless the righteous, O Lord; you cover him with favor as with a shield. — Psalm 5:11–12 (ESV)

Anyone can pray to God. So perhaps the better question is: whose prayer does God answer? From these verses, it is the person who takes refuge in the Lord, who exults in His name, who loves Him, who seeks to live rightly. In other words, the person who genuinely humbles himself and says, Lord, I need you.

That is why David, in his most famous psalm — Psalm 51, where he confesses his adultery with Bathsheba and the killing of her husband Uriah — writes, “A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

So examine the nature of your prayer. Are you asking selfishly — because the answer would make you feel great, or more important? Is this really about you, or about Him and what He wants to do in you and through you? Check the attitude of your heart, because God welcomes the one who seeks refuge in Him, and He will answer in His way and His timing.

7. What Prayer Produces

Those same two verses show us the result. God spreads His protection over the one who takes refuge in Him, and covers the righteous with favor as with a shield.

What does that mean? Look at the whole psalm. How did it start? With David crying and groaning — overwhelmed, in pain, hurting. And how does it end? “We exult in you, Lord. We sing for joy.” How did he travel that distance?

By looking to God. Once he sees that God is a good King, a reliable King, a just King who welcomes him in through steadfast love, peace starts to settle over his heart and mind. He begins to experience God as a shield.

It is possible David was praying for physical safety — there were real people who wanted him dead. But over the course of this psalm it looks more like he finds emotional and spiritual safety: the realization that God is enough.

In Luke 12, Jesus tells us not to fear those who can only kill the body — do not fear man. Fear instead the one who can destroy both body and soul. And I can hear someone saying, See? That is exactly why I do not pray to God. Except a couple of verses later Jesus says God knows the number of hairs on your head — if you have hair. Which means He is interested in you. He knows you. He loves you.

Yes, we should respect Him, stand in awe of Him, fear Him. And this awesome, powerful God still wants you in His presence, because He made you, His image is in you, He knows you, and He loves you. That is why we can come humbly, confident He will be our protection.

Jesus dying on the cross shows us God’s love; Jesus bursting out of the grave shows us His power. And as Romans 8:31 puts it — if God is for us, who can be against us? If the God who raises the dead is for me, why would I live in fear of anyone else?

So bring your prayer to Him in the morning, and at any hour. Come to this good King. Bring Him your honest, humble prayers about anything and everything you are struggling with. He hears it, He receives it, and He will answer in His timing and His way. And in the meantime, part of the answer is this: He will guard your heart and your mind, for His glory and your joy.