A morning prayer that spends as much time describing what God is not — not pleased with wickedness, not a house for evil to dwell in — as it spends asking for anything. David wants access to a holy place, and he wants his enemies’ own schemes to be the thing that finally exposes them.
A study in Psalm 5 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 9 min read
Give Ear To My Words, O LORD
“Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation… My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.”
Psalm 5:1, 3
David sets prayer as the very first act of his day, before anything else has had a chance to shape his mood or his agenda — not a request squeezed in later, but the thing that comes first and determines how he faces everything after it. “Will look up” suggests genuine expectancy, not a routine recited out of habit.
Thou Art Not A God That Hath Pleasure In Wickedness
“For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity.”
Psalm 5:4-5
David grounds his confidence in God’s settled character rather than in any promise made to him personally — four negative statements in a row, each one ruling out the possibility that wickedness could simply coexist comfortably with a holy God. This is the premise everything else in the psalm depends on.
I Will Come Into Thy House In The Multitude Of Thy Mercy
“But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple. Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face.”
Psalm 5:7-8
Having just described a God who cannot tolerate wickedness in His presence, David does not conclude he is disqualified from entering that presence — he approaches anyway, explicitly “in the multitude of thy mercy,” the very quality that makes access possible for someone who knows he does not belong there on his own merit.
Their Throat Is An Open Sepulchre
“For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue. Destroy thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels.”
Psalm 5:9-10
“An open sepulchre” is a startling image for a mouth — something that looks ordinary from outside but releases decay the moment it opens. David’s request that his enemies “fall by their own counsels” is notably not a request for direct vengeance; he asks only that their own schemes be allowed to run their natural course.
Let All Those That Put Their Trust In Thee Rejoice
“But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them… For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.”
Psalm 5:11-12
The psalm ends by widening from David’s own morning prayer to a general blessing over everyone who trusts God the same way — favor pictured as a shield surrounding a person on every side, the same protective image this whole series will meet again and again across the psalms still to come.
