Bible Blog: Psalm 5 – June 3, 2008

Psalm 5: 1-12 (NIV)

“Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my sighing.
“Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray.
“In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.
“You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell.
“The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong.
“You destroy those who tell lies; bloodthirsty and deceitful men the LORD abhors.
“But I, by your great mercy, will come into your house; in reverence will I bow down toward your holy temple.
“Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness because of my enemies—make straight your way before me.
“Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with destruction. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongue they speak deceit.
“Declare them guilty, O God! Let their intrigues be their downfall. Banish them for their many sins, for they have rebelled against you.
“But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
“For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.”

Most of the time a passage like this will bring us to think we should pray first thing every day, or remind us we need to repent from our sinful ways so we can be in God’s presence. Today, for me, verse 9 is the most important, “Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with destruction. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongue they speak deceit.” Now, I know we can easily look at this and say, “Yeah, I know when that girl calls me fat that she’s just trying to hurt me,” or “well duh, the taunting on the field is just to throw off my game.” What about the taunts and insults that are thrown at us from the spiritual world though? Do we actually cast them off as easily or do we internalize them and somehow believe them to be true? As I’m typing this, I am unemployed and have an ankle injury that is preventing me from being hired at any local firms. Satan has used this as an opportunity to fill my mind with thoughts of uselessness, unimportance, and a lack of value. But here I read, “…with their tongue they speak deceit.” Who speaks deceit more frequently than Satan? Why do I find myself even listening to these words when all I need to do it tell him that God made me, forgives me, and loves me, I’m an heiress to the Throne of Grace… I really can’t have more value than that now can I? For whatever reason though, these thoughts and words are trusted even more than the ones we hear from the people we see each day. We need to cast these aside also and rejoice and sing for our Lord and Savior and not let these negative and deceitful ways permeate our minds and hearts.

Hugs & Love