This week we want to share with you a devotion written by Timothy Tennet entitled, “Starting the Day on the Right Path: Psalm 5.” Timothy C. Tennent is the President of Asbury Theological Seminary and a Professor of Global Christianity. We hope this devotion encourages your faith.
CONSIDER THIS
If Psalm 4 (last week’s daily text) sets forth the basic framework for evening prayer, Psalm 5 is the pattern for morning prayer: “In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation” (v. 3). Morning prayer is essential for setting ourselves on the path of the way of righteousness. As the day begins, we draw the line and put ourselves on the right side of righteousness. Before the day begins to unfold and we have even the first opportunity to squander our time, engage in evil thoughts and conversations, do any evil deed, or, in general, lose our moral courage to stand in the way of righteousness, this morning prayer sets us on the right path. We remind ourselves at the outset that God takes no “pleasure in evil” (v. 4). He does not dwell with the wicked, and in the end, the “arrogant cannot stand in [his] presence” (v. 5).
Today, Christians are inundated with a domesticated, overly sentimentalized view of God. This psalm shakes us awake and calls us to realign our thinking about God according to Scripture, not popular sentiments and cultural trends that can easily crowd out a biblical perspective on life. One of the biggest surprises comes in verse 5, where the psalmist declares that God hates “all who do wrong.” It is important to remember that when the Bible refers to love and hate, it does not correspond particularly well with the ways those two words are used today. For example, the word hate does not refer to any kind of angry emotion God has toward someone, as might be reflected in the phrase, “I hate you.” Rather, when the Bible says God “hates” something, it means that he stands covenantally opposed to it. He stands with a drawn sword in the way of sin; he does not go along with it. To “hate” all those who do wrong is to “stand against” all those who oppose God’s righteous reign and rule in the world.
We need this daily reminder that God will someday return to judge the world and establish his reign. Indeed, Psalm 5 is one of the key passages that Paul quotes in Romans 3 to establish the captivating sinfulness of the world: “Their throat is an open grave; with their tongue they speak deceit” (v. 9; see Rom. 3:13). The only hope we have of escaping God’s righteous judgment is to “take refuge” in the Lord (v. 11). The “shield” (v. 12), which the psalmist promises will protect the people of God, is in fact brought back to us in the book of Ephesians. Paul tells us to “take up the shield of faith,” which is to cast ourselves upon the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ. This, in turn, enables us to “extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one” (Eph. 6:16). It is through Christ that we are finally established as the people of righteousness.