May 18 Daily Devotional

Prayer in Earnest: A Meditation on the Fifth Psalm

Psalm 5

1 Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation.
2 Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray.
3 My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.
4 For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee.
5 The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity.
6 Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the LORD will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.
7 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.
8 Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face.
9 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.
10 Destroy thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have rebelled against thee.
11 But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.
12 For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.

Devotional

(continued)

Expectancy in Prayer

Only a vain prayer expects nothing from God. If there is not belief in an answer from God, why pray at all? When the supplicant is not expectant, confidence in God is renounced. There was a divinely implanted assurance in David's heart that the Lord would not withhold His help from him. even though the present state was not favorable. The Psalmist did not pray, only to forget that for which he prayed. Prayer was not just a spiritual exercise for his own inward good. It was for him, and is for every child of God, a pleading with a supernatural Person, who is the Covenant-keeping God.

But why now should the Psalmist think of his enemies? They, being God's enemies, arc bent on frustrating God's plans and purposes for His own. Would they bring to naught what God had promised to do for him? By no means. The victory was His, regardless of what man might do. No human devising can overturn God's purposes for His saints. God hates all wickedness and will therefore bring to nought the counsels of His foes, yea, He will destroy the wicked in His wrath, even though for the present they hinder God's work of grace. Even amid persecutions and tribulations which God's children endure, God will fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness, and the work of faith with power.

It is sad indeed that men are wicked, but it is not sad if they are justly punished. "It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you." And this very threatening against the wicked is not without grace to the godly. Here is God's warning to them also, not to look for escape from punishment when there is deliberate falling into sin. The display of the divine wrath is one means whereby God leads His children to enter into holy abhorrence of sin and to delight in His acts of justice.

Those born again by the Spirit of God have entered into a high and glorious calling. May God count them worthy of it, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified.