In keeping
with The Day with Jesus (I can tell you what this means specifically if you're interested) I have been
using an evening and a morning Psalm to focus my thoughts a bit. I haven’t been switching them up, but using
the same one’s daily; Psalm 127 in the evening, and Psalm 5 in the morning.
Reflecting
on Psalm 5 has been good and it has struck me the ideas that we hold to shape
us. If the ideas that we hold on to are
true, then we will be shaped in a way that is good and blessed. If, on the other hand, the ideas that we hold
to are lies, or untruths, we will become misshapen. Living according to ideas that are untrue
will usually be destructive. David, I
think, reminds us of his own struggle and desire to live according to truth in
Psalm 5.
Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness because of
my enemies;
make your way straight before me. For there is no truth in their mouth;
their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter
with their tongue.
Make them bear their
guilt, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; because of the abundance
of their transgressions cast them out, for they have rebelled against you.
But let
all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and
spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in
you. For you bless the righteous, O LORD;
you cover him with favor as with a shield.
-Psalm 5:8-12 (ESV)
So as I
have been reflecting on this text I notice a few things. First the enemies are characterized by
lies. They have no truth in their mouth. David says, make your way straight before me
and let those who want to live in the lies fall by their adherence to their
lies. So Lord, let me take refuge in you
and live a life of rejoicing. Refuge in
God is living in the truth. I don’t just
mean religious truths, but in all truth wherever you find it… about
anything. The truth always sets us
free. Jesus says in John 8:31-32 that if
“we abide in his word we’ll know the truth… and the truth will set us
free.” I think that’s what David is
saying also in Psalm 5.
The bottom
line is found pretty much on the bottom line of the Psalm. God blesses the righteous. Think about the word “blessing” as “the good
life.” When we live in God’s way, and
his way is truth, we’ll be righteous… living according to right thinking; and
that will bring us to the abundance he intends for us as his children.
So I’ve
been praying this prayer: Lord, protect
me today from the lies that are told to me by…
…the
culture around me that is driven by darkness.
…the
yearning of my own body that wants its own way.
…the
untruths lodged in my mind that I tell myself every day
that are destructive to my
experiencing the good life.
