Psalm 5 - What gets you up in the morning?


God, while Psalm 4 appears to be a nighttime psalm, Psalm 5 is a morning psalm. God, for me, Wordle and a morning workout are the first two things on my mind when I wake up. Not so for David. Instead of watching his news feed or Instagram reels while he wipes the sleep from his eyes, he groans his prayers of lament to you and waits, watching expectantly (v. 1-3).

And God, what is he waiting and watching for? What was the first thing on his mind? Where did his mind go immediately when his alarm went off? It seems that he was lamenting the fact that Psalm 1 wasn’t a reality in his world. He laments the fact that unrighteousness and injustice seemed to be reigning. He seemed to grieve over how the righteous were not experiencing your rich blessing.

And God, as I read this Psalm, I know that I deserve to experience the destruction of the wicked (v. 6) instead of the blessing of the righteous. In fact, Paul would quote part of this Psalm in Romans 3 to make the point that ALL stand condemned before a righteous God.

But God, you have decided and have decidedly blessed me - not because of my righteousness - but because of Christ’s untainted righteousness. And God, because of Christ, Paul would say that I have been blessed with EVERY spiritual blessing. There isn’t a spiritual blessing that You are withholding from me!
God, let me awaken to this reality every morning. And I pray that the joy of that blessing would fill the earth.

Amen

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