God, Our Refuge

Psalm 5 today, a slightly longer psalm, and it has some fairly complex issues involved

with it, and I'll try to keep it short.

Psalm 5, verses 1 to 12.

Psalms 5 · chapter mention

Now I'll read it out loud for us.

It's to the choir master for the flutes, a psalm of David.

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.

O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice.

In the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.

For you are not a God who delights in wickedness.

Evil may not dwell with you.

The boastful shall not stand before your eyes.

You hate all evildoers.

You destroy those who speak lies.

The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

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.

Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness.

Because of my enemies, make your way straight before me.

For there is no truth in their mouth.

Their inmost self is destruction.

Their throat is an open grave.

They flatter with their tongue.

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.

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 exalt in you.

For you bless the righteous, O Lord.

You cover him with favor as with the shield.

So,

the world is full of suffering and injustice.

And a lot of,

we see that all around us.

The poor are defrauded.

And made poor while the rich are sheltered.

And made richer.

In this imperfect order of injustice in this world.

Sometimes the innocent are unfairly punished.

While the wicked roam freely.

And it is in this context,

the question of suffering.

Of how a good God and a sovereign God,

all powerful God,

can allow such suffering and injustice in this world.

And of course,

there are satisfactory philosophical answers for this.

But the philosophical answer,

though it's not unimportant,

is often intellectually satisfying,

but not emotionally satisfying.

It's not viscerally satisfying.

But the Psalms,

their response is a little different.

They do not sanitize,

sanitize the presence of real evil

and suffering in this world.

Instead,

they help us to think and feel with God.

And this Psalm,

Psalm 5 in particular,

tells us that we can take refuge in the Lord

because of the abundance of God's steadfast love

and righteousness.

We can take refuge in the Lord

because of the abundance of God's steadfast love

and righteousness.

And in the first part,

it tells us about how God's love issues in our worship.

It leads us to worship.

Excuse me.

It begins in verses 1 to 3.

1 to 7, really,

where the psalmist prays and prepares for worship.

And he confesses that God is my king and my God.

So we can tell already

that this intimacy prompts him toward prayer.

He's not just reaching out to our king,

his people's king or his people's God,

but this is God he knows.

He's my king.

This is my God.

And so that he utters to him

not just formal prayer,

but also his groaning and cries,

it says in verses 1 to 3.

And he's confident that he will hear God's voice.

But as he approaches God in prayer,

he is reminded of God's holiness.

And as he reflects on God's holiness,

he's reminded that the evil that surrounds him

is brought into sharp belief.

And so he acknowledges in verses 4 to 6,

you are not a God who delights in wickedness.

Evil may not dwell with you.

The boastful shall not stand before your eyes.

You hate all evildoers.

You destroy those who speak lies.

The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful men.

And these are really categorical,

strong statements, right?

And they get progressively more intense

if you look at how the list is arranged.

So first, it says that God in no way

delights in wickedness.

In verse 4,

but it's not only that he doesn't delight in wickedness,

he can't even stand evil.

He has such an aversion to evil

that evil may not even dwell with him, right?

And it goes from the abstract idea of evil

that it's not merely that he's displeased by evil,

irked by evil,

but that he opposes also evil people.

It's not that,

so it's verses 5 to 6,

it says,

God hates all evildoers.

He destroys those who speak lies,

and he abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful men.

And this is challenging

because it flies in the face of our

to feel good maxim that we use a lot,

which is,

God hates the sin but loves the sinner.

And because that's not exactly a biblical statement,

because God's wrath is not some impersonal force

that's inevitable because of our sin,

but rather it's a personal outpouring of God's justice.

And as theologian Leon Morris writes,

it is largely because wrath is so fully personal

in the Old Testament

that mercy becomes so fully personal.

For mercy is the action of the same God

who was angry,

allowing his wrath to be turned away.

And so this teaches us that God not only hates sin,

but he hates sinners, right?

For their stubborn rebellion.

And yet this fierce hatred towards sinners

doesn't preclude his unyielding love for them.

They exist simultaneously.

And it's his love, precisely,

that restrains and delays his judgment and wrath.

So we have to hold those two things in tension

where we don't sterilize God's wrath

so that people who are sinning

can live contentedly,

assuming that God still loves them

and that the weight and fury of God's personal wrath

toward them is,

they don't feel it.

C.S. Lewis writes about this

in his reflection on the psalm.

He said,

the ferocious parts of the psalms

serve as a reminder

that there is in the world

such a thing as wickedness,

and that it is hateful to God.

And note the word for

at the beginning of verse 4.

It's this holiness of God

that enables,

his wrath toward evil doers

that enables the psalmist to pray.

That's his reason for praying.

He's the grounds for his prayer.

Because, of course,

the victim of injustice

is not going to go to a court

where he knows there's a judge

who's corrupt

and takes bribes from his enemies

and his opponents.

He will take, rather,

the case to a place

where a judge is known

for his uncompromising integrity.

And so, likewise,

in this case,

because the psalmist knows

that God's uncompromising

and resolute in his righteousness,

his holiness,

and his justice,

that's what enables the psalmist

to pray,

the verses in 8 and 10.

8 to 10.

But, at this point,

God's righteousness alone

isn't enough

for the psalmist to come

because,

if that's the case,

the psalmist also may fail

and may not qualify

in God's eyes.

He has to make sure

he has a perfectly good,

right case.

And that's why, I think, here,

the psalm takes a surprising turn,

verse 7,

because he doesn't go

from extolling God's righteousness

and then to extolling

his own merit,

but rather,

the basis for the psalmist's prayer

is God's steadfast love,

right?

So, Psalm,

verse 7 says,

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.

And there's a wonderful

asymmetry.

Asymmetry here.

Asymmetry here

because the psalmist says

that because of the abundance

of God's steadfast love,

he can enter

into God's presence

and bow down

at the temple in worship.

And then,

contrast that with verse 10,

where the psalmist notes

that because of the abundance

of the enemy's transgressions,

they are cast out

because they have rebelled

against God.

So,

same word,

abundance.

So,

while it's the abundance

of their own transgressions

that lead

God's enemies

to be cast out

and in rebellion,

it's God's,

it's not the psalmist's

abundant righteousness,

but rather,

the abundance

of God's steadfast love,

his grace,

that he's able to enter

into God's presence.

There is a symmetry here.

It's not parallel.

Israel.

And so,

and then this,

this abundance of God's steadfast love

ultimately is what fosters worship.

So,

in verse 7,

the psalmist says,

I will bow down

toward the holy temple

in the fear of you.

And,

so,

this is how God's love

promotes,

leads to issues

in our worship.

But then God's judgment,

God's righteousness,

on the other hand,

leads to his judgment

toward evildoers.

And you see this

in verse 8 to 10.

It says,

Lead me,

O Lord,

in your righteousness

because of my enemies.

Make your way straight

before me.

So,

this is psalmist's prayer.

He prays that God

will protect him

and to make his way straight.

And because his way,

his righteousness

is threatened by his enemies.

And that's why verse 9

again begins with the verse 4.

For,

there is no truth in their mouth.

Their inmost self is destruction.

Their throat is an open grave.

They flatter with their tongue.

And it's noteworthy

that the entirety

of this list of sins

is,

has something to do with speech.

As James 3, 6 confirms,

the tongue is a fire,

a world of unrighteousness.

And these evildoers,

their sin primarily

has to do with their speech.

So much so,

there's no truth in their mouth.

Their throat is like

an open grave

from which the stench of death

just oozes out.

And to this,

the psalmist responds

by praying in verse 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.

And I think

if we're honest

with ourselves,

this kind of prayer

makes us a little uncomfortable.

Because it seems

to fly in the face

of Jesus' teaching

to love our enemies,

pray for those

who persecute you.

And so,

we might ask,

do these psalms

actually apply to us?

Do they teach

a sub-Christian ethic,

a Jewish ethic,

an Old Testament ethic

that's passed away?

And I don't think so.

And the reason is

that first,

we have to note

that the psalmist

is not seeking

personal vengeance.

He's not seeking

the exact personal vengeance,

but he's calling,

even though he does call

these evildoers

my enemies,

in verse 8,

it's clear from verse 10,

the context there,

that they're his enemies

because ultimately

they're God's enemies.

Because he says

that they rebelled

against God.

So the psalmist here

is not motivated

by a personal vendetta,

but he's consumed

by his zeal

for God's glory.

Especially since

this is a psalm of David,

and David's a king,

and that prefigures

the Messiah,

Jesus Christ.

And he,

so an offense

against the king,

God's anointed king,

and his kingdom,

Israel,

is at this stage

of God's revelation

a direct offense

against God

and his kingdom,

rebelling against him.

Excuse me.

And then secondly,

we have to note

that the psalmist

is praying to God

that God will enforce

his holiness and justice,

and he's not taking things

in his own hands

to enforce his own justice.

He's praying

that God will do this,

and he's in doing so

entrusting himself

to God's justice

and holiness

and care.

And then finally,

I think a prayer

for God's justice

and love for our enemies

are not mutually exclusive.

Because,

yes,

we should love our enemies,

yes,

we should pray for them

and be reconciled to them

if at all possible,

and we should do good to them

even as they do evil to us.

But when injustice

cannot be righted,

and when people suffer,

when there's injustice

in this world,

it is morally imperative

for us to pray

for God's justice,

not for our sake,

but for the sake

of God's glory.

And I think perhaps

we're uncomfortable

with this kind of prayers

because a lot of Christians

have become functional deists

that believe that

after Jesus' first coming,

that God basically

lets the world run on its own,

doesn't really interfere

in its affairs,

and then not until

the second coming of Jesus

when God finally judges

the whole world.

And that's not the way it is.

Because God's not

an uninterested spectator.

Rather,

He's active

and continually works

in history

and in our society.

And we would be callous

and indifferent

to the suffering

and injustice

and evil in this world

if we simply,

we do not pray,

cry out to God

for His justice

to overtake evildoers.

So there's a place for that.

There's an appropriate

place for that.

And so then,

God's love issues

in our worship

and His dry stricciness

issues in His judgment

of God's enemies.

And it is for this reason,

because of both

God's love

and righteousness,

that we can take refuge

in the Lord.

So verses 11 to 12,

they say,

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 exalt

in you.

For you bless the righteous,

O Lord.

You cover him with favor

as with a shield.

It's a wonderful image,

right,

the continual image

of the spreading

of this protection

over us.

and then that,

and then the word

covering us

as with a shield.

It's God's over us,

protecting us,

hovering over us

like a bird

that protects its chicks.

And that's the,

and this is the,

and the reason

why God can do that,

and this is,

this song

and the list of sins here

of,

it is included

in Romans 3,

10 to 13,

where Paul says,

None is righteous,

no not one.

No one understands,

no one seeks for God.

All have turned aside.

Together they have

become worthless.

And then he says,

Their throat is an open grave.

They use their tongues

to deceive.

So this is a quotation

from the psalm.

And then,

of course,

later he says

in the same chapter,

All have sinned

and fall short

of the glory of God

and are justified

by his grace

as a gift

through the redemption

that is in Christ Jesus

whom God put forward

as a propitiation

by his blood

to be received

by faith.

And so this points

to that ultimate reality

that we,

all evildoers,

all of us,

in fact,

have fallen

into this category

of people

whose mouths

are open graves

who deceive.

And yet,

God's able

to spare us,

able to show us,

cover us,

with favor,

as with the shield

because Christ died

for us.

Ultimately,

he was propitiation

for our sins

and he averted

the wrath of God.

And that works

in two ways.

It's that,

first,

we can take refuge

in God

without fearing

his wrath

toward us

for our sins.

And then secondly,

we can take refuge

in God

in the midst

of the evil

and injustice

of this world

because we know

that because God

judged sin

in Christ,

the same way

he will ultimately

execute his final judgment

on all evil

and suffering

in this world.

And that

becomes,

that constitutes

the nature

of our hope

and the nature

of our posture

toward the world

and toward God.

And so I hope

this encourages

all of you,

all of us,

to let us,

to take refuge

in the Lord

because of both

his love

and his righteousness.

With that,

let's pray

to God.

and first

let's sing a song

to you.