Latest / Reformed Thinking / Lead Me in Your Righteousness, O Lord (Psalm 5) | John Peter Lange

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Lead Me in Your Righteousness, O Lord (Psalm 5) | John Peter Lange · Reformed Thinking

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You know, if you look at almost any media right now, the
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conversation around morning routines is just completely
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dominated by productivity hacks. Oh yeah, absolutely.
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It is everywhere. Right.
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You open an app and you are immediately bombarded with
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articles. They tell you to drink 30 ounces
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of lemon water, write down 3 actionable goals, do 10 minutes
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of zone 2 stretching, and, I don't know, stare at the sun
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before you ever look at a screen, Right?
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Right. And the entire goal is
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optimization. It is all geared toward turning
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the human machine into a more efficient corporate asset.
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But then you look back at history, you look at ancient
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texts, and you see a completely different paradigm for the
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morning. Yes, a totally different
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mindset. You see individuals waking up in
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a landscape that is actively hostile to them.
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They're not trying to optimize their inbox.
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They're fighting for their spiritual and physical survival.
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Welcome to reform thinking. It is a massive shift in
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perspective. I mean, when we read the
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historical records of how individuals from antiquities
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started their days, we are stepping into a world where the
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stakes were life and death, both physically and spiritually.
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Which brings us to the specific mission of our conversation.
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Today. We are going to intensely
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analyze one specific morning prayer, Psalm 5.
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But we are not just reading it on the surface.
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We are bringing in the heavy artillery.
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We are using John Peter Lange's massive commentary on the Holy
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Scriptures. Yeah, that is a huge resource.
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For those who might not know, Lange was a 19th century German
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theologian who assembled A staggering team of scholars to
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write one of the most comprehensive, meticulous
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commentaries ever produced. So we are pulling from the
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historical, grammatical and theological analysis of
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heavyweights. Biggest names really.
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Yeah, we were talking about John Calvin, Martin Luther, Charles
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Spurgeon, Matthew Henry and several others.
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We want to decode the absolute mechanics of how they survive
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their mornings. Well, to properly understand
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what is happening in this text, we have to establish the context
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immediately. This is not a detached abstract
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poem written by someone sitting comfortably in an academic ivory
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tower drinking tea. Right, it is not a theoretical
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exercise. Not at all.
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It is a prayer born from a highly specific circumstance.
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We are looking at the words of a pious individual, widely
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understood to be a King David, who is completely surrounded by
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deceitful adversaries. He is likely dealing with
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treason within his own Royal Court, maybe even the rebellion
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of his own son Absalom. So the overarching theme of this
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text is the sheer mechanics of approaching A sovereign, holy
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God while trapped amidst human corruption.
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That is a heavy burden to wake up to.
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It is, and it requires A staggering combination of
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intense awe and absolute expectation.
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If you are listening to this while commuting to a job where
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you know you were about to face workplace slander, or an
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incredibly hostile boss, or perhaps you were just dealing
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with intense personal opposition, this ancient text is
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actually a blueprint. Yeah, it really is.
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It alters how you mentally prepare for that specific
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environment. So before we look at the
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theology of who God is, we must first establish how the psalmist
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approaches him. We see this progression from
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internal thoughts to external actions.
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Verse one starts with give ear to my words.
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O Lord, consider my meditation. But I know the word meditation
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there is translated in some versions as sighs or groanings.
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So what is the distinction between a sigh and the loud cry
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that he mentions later in the text?
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So the Hebrew root for the word translated as meditation or
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sighs is, well, it's hey, gig. Hey gig.
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Yeah. And it is a fascinating word.
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It denotes the act of thinking, the internal processing of the
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mind. But it also literally refers to
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a low, dull sound. Like a groan.
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Precisely. Think of the muffle involuntary
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noise a person makes when they are in physical pain.
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It is an utterance that has not quite formed into articulate
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language. It is the groan of the spirit
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when the burden is too heavy to construct a coherent sentence.
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Wow, that paints a picture. And what Land points out relying
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on rigorous exegesis, which simply means he's drawing the
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original historical meaning out of the text rather than reading
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his own modern opinions into it, is that taking this as size or a
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low sound provides a brilliant contrast to the loud, vocalized
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cry that is mentioned just a moment later in verse 3.
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So it builds up. Yes, the progression is entirely
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organic. It starts with the internal
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pressure, the dull groaning sound of a heavily burdened
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mind, and then it breaks out into an articulate petition.
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I think everyone can relate to that.
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We all have those mornings where you wake up and the anxiety hits
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before your feet even touch the floor.
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You cannot formulate a perfect, grammatically correct paragraph
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of prayer. You just sigh.
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Right, the weight is just too much.
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The physical weight of the stress literally pushes A groan
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out of your chest. But then, as the text shows, he
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gathers himself. He does formulate a sentence in
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verse 2. He addresses God as my king and
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my God. I want to push back on something
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here though. In the ancient world and even
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today, God is generally recognized as the ruler of the
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universe. Why does David specifically say
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my king? Does that possessive pronoun
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actually change the legal standing of the prayer?
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Oh, it changes everything. That phrase, my king,
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establishes a very precise theocratic relation.
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How so? As the commentator Huff Feld
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notes, in the Old Testament, calling God king is not just
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acknowledging him as a general distant deity.
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In the ancient Near East, kingship was a specific legal
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and covenantal relationship defined by strict treaties.
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Like a legal contract. Yes, very much so.
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When a subject goes to a king, they are appealing for their
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legal rights. They are asking for protection
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and justice against adversaries based on a mutual covenant.
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The king demands loyalty, but the king is absolutely obligated
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to provide defense. By saying my king, the Psalmist
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is invoking that specific covenant.
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He is essentially saying I am your sworn subject.
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I have pledged my loyalty to your crown.
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Therefore, you are legally and morally responsible for my
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defense against these traitors. It establishes the grounds for
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everything he is about to ask. That makes the approach so much
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more assertive. He is not begging a stranger for
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a favor. He is appealing to his sovereign
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for his legal rights as a citizen of that king.
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Exactly. And that assertiveness really
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takes shape in verse three. He says, My voice shalt thou
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here in the morning, O Lord, in the morning will I direct my
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prayer unto thee, and will look up.
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The word for direct in Hebrew is Iraq.
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This is where the historical context blows my mind.
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This is not just a casual word for talking, is it?
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No, Iraq is an incredibly precise technical term.
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In the book of Leviticus, Iraq is the actual word used for
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arranging the wood and the pieces of the slaughtered animal
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on the altar. Wow, so it is sacrificial
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language. Yes, it is used in Leviticus
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chapter one for laying things in order.
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It is also used for arranging the holy lamps and the showbread
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in the sanctuary. So when David says in the
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morning I will direct my prayer, he is using the bloody physical
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language of the priesthood. That is intense.
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He's saying I am taking my prayer and I am chopping the
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wood. I am laying out the pieces.
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I am arranging it on the altar of my heart with meticulous
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sacrificial care. Can we pause and talk about what
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that sacrificial system actually looked like?
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Because I think modern readers sanitize it.
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We picture a pristine church service, but the morning
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sacrifice was brutal physical labor.
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It was grueling. The morning sacrifice was one of
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the very first duties of the priest as soon as the sun came
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up. It involves slaughtering a
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massive animal, draining the blood, skinning it, cutting it
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into specific sections, carrying heavy logs of wood, arranging
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the fire perfectly so it would burn at the right temperature.
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That sounds exhausting. And then placing the pieces of
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the animal in a highly specific order dictated by the Levitical
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law. You could not just throw the
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meat on the fire carelessly. The preparation was rigorous.
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The smell, the heat, the physical exhaustion required
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total mental and physical engagement.
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So when David uses the word Arak, he is telling us that his
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morning prayer is not some fleeting, half asleep thought.
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He is engaging in rigorous, meticulous preparation of his
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mind and his words. Let me offer a modern
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comparison. I think a lot of people today
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treat prayer like throwing a coin into a wishing well.
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You close your eyes, toss the coin over your shoulder, hear a
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splash, and walk away. You do not even look to see
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where the coin landed. Yeah, that is a great image.
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But the psalmist is doing something entirely different.
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He is taking an arrow, drawing the bowstring back with intense
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physical exertion, aiming at a highly specific target,
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releasing the string, and then watching intensely to see where
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that arrow strikes. Your arrow analogy is completely
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aligned with the historical commentary.
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Matthew Henry actually uses a very similar marksman analogy
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when he analyzes this text. Oh, it yeah.
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But before we get to Henry, we should look at what Charles
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Spurgeon says regarding this rigorous preparation,
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specifically contrasting it with the size we talked about
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earlier. What is Spurgeon?
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Spurgeon makes a brilliant distinction.
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He states that words are simply the garments of prayer, while
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the unuttered longings are the essence.
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The words dress the prayer, but the sighing, the dull, heavy
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groaning of the soul, that is the actual substance.
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So the words are just the suit, yes?
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If you only have the garments without the essence, you have an
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empty suit. But when you combine the deep
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groan of the soul with the meticulous arrangement of the
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Arak, you have a forceful appeal to the sovereign.
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I love that quote. Words are just the clothing.
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We can spend so much time tailoring the suit that we
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forget to actually put a person inside.
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It that is a great way to put it.
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You mentioned Matthew Henry. He is famous for his exhaustive
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commentary on the whole Bible written back in the early 1700s.
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What does he pull out of this specific morning routine?
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So Matthew Henry breaks this down into four specific
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actionable commitments drawn directly from verse three.
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First, making prayer a deliberate business.
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Unto thee will I pray. It is not an accident, it is the
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scheduled labor of the day. Like a meeting you cannot miss.
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Right. You do not just hope you find
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time for it, you execute it like a vital business meeting.
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Second, doing it in the morning. Henry notes the necessity of
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doing this when you are fresh, cleared from the slumbers of the
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night, and not yet tangled in the chaos of daily affairs.
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Makes sense. Get it done early. 3rd, Keeping
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a single eye, as Henry says, like a marksman directing his
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arrow to the center of the target.
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You are not distracted by a dozen different anxieties.
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You are focused entirely on the king.
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And 4th patiently waiting for an answer that goes back to the
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final phrase of the verse, and we'll look up.
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Let's analyze that phrase. Look up.
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It implies that the action of praying is not finished when you
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stop talking. Exactly.
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I mean, the commentators point out that looking up is the
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posture of a sentry standing on a watchtower.
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Oh, like looking out for the enemy.
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Yes, or staying with the sacrificial imagery of the word
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Erek. It is the priest stepping back
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from the altar, looking up at the sky and waiting for the fire
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from heaven to fall and consume the sacrifice.
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You do not walk away from the altar once the wood is arranged.
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You wait for the divine response.
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That is so active. The Puritan writer William
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Gernol has a rhomorically sharp quote on this.
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He says that praying without expecting an answer is
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renouncing your confidence in taking God's name in vain.
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Wow, taking God's name in vain. That is a severe accusation.
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Usually we think of that commandment is just avoiding
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certain curse words. How does Grinnell connect it to
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not expecting an answer? Grinnell argues that if you pray
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but you do not watch for the answer, you are essentially
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mocking the entire process. You are treating the king of the
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universe like an imaginary friend.
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Ouch, right? You are proving by your own
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apathy that you did not actually believe the King was listening
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in the first place. If you petition a real king for
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a pardon or for military aid, you do not drop the letter in
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the mail and then forget. About it?
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No, you'll be waiting by the door.
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You stand at the window watching for the King's messenger to
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arrive with the royal decree. If you walk away, it proves you
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thought the exercise was useless, that is taking the name
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of the king in vain. So we have this rigorous,
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meticulous preparation. The wood is laid, the sentry is
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watching. But that raises a critical
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question. Why is such intense, careful
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preparation required? Why cannot the psalmist just
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speak casually? Why cannot he just roll out of
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bed and mumble a few words? That is the big question.
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This naturally brings us to the sheer holiness of the God being
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approached. We have to look at verses 4
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through 6 because the psalmist roots his entire confidence in
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the specific attributes of the sovereign.
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The transition in the text is stark.
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Verse four starts with a negative statement.
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For thou art not a God that have pleasure and wickedness, neither
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shall evil dwell with the word translated as dwell or be a
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guest is the Hebrew word GRR. This is a loaded term in ancient
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Near Eastern culture. It denotes someone enjoying the
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rights of hospitality and protection.
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Let's unpack that, because ancient hospitality was very
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different from having someone over for coffee today.
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Oh, it was a matter of life and death.
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In the ancient Near East, specifically among nomadic
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Bedouin cultures, the law of the tent was absolute.
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If a traveler sought refuge in your tent and you took them in
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as a guest, a girl, you were covenantally bound to protect
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them. Bound to protect.
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Them, yes, you had to feed them, treat them as family and defend
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them from their enemies for the duration of their stay.
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Even if it cost you your own life.
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Once they ate your salt, you are blood bound to their defense.
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That is a massive obligation. So what the text is declaring
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here is that evil cannot be a guest in God's house.
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Evil receives no hospitality, no protection, no salt and no
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quarter from the Almighty. And then verse 5 escalates it.
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It says the foolish shall not stand in thy sight.
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What does it mean to physically stand in his sight?
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Huppfeld, another major scholar cited in Lange's commentary,
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details this beautifully. To stand in the sight of an
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ancient king is not just about physical proximity, It is a
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distinct, highly restricted privilege.
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Like having access to the Oval Office.
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Right. Think of the ancient Persian or
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Babylonian courts. The king sat on an elevated
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throne and the room was massive. The vast majority of citizens
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would never see the King's face. Only the highest nobles, the
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most trusted viziers, the absolute inner circle, were
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allowed to literally stand in the Direct Line of sight of the
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monarch. And if you just walked in?
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To approach uninvited was punishable by death.
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We see that exact dynamic in the Book of Esther.
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The same language is used in the book of Job regarding the Angel
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standing before God. It is a symbol of intimate
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relation, favor and security. So the foolish or shed out of
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that. Yes, the text is stating
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unequivocally that the foolish, and in biblical terms, the
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foolish, are not just people lacking intelligence, they are
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the morally corrupt. The wicked have absolutely no
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right to stand in that privileged position.
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It is a stunning progression. Let's trace the clauses across
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these 3 verses because it builds like a storm.
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Yes, there is a distinct poetic and theological progression.
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It moves from passive negative statements to positive, active
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and violent judgments. How does it start?
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It starts by saying God has no pleasure in wickedness, then
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evil cannot dwell with him, then the foolish shall not stand in
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his sight. Those are the negatives, what
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God does not allow. But then it shifts to positive,
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forceful actions. Thou hatest all workers of
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iniquity, Thou shalt destroy them.
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That speak leasing, which is an archaic word for lying.
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The Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.
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It escalates from God simply denying access to God, actively
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abhorring and destroying the corrupt.
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OK, let me throw analogy at you. Think of a monarch's private
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dining room inside a highly fortified palace.
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You cannot just wander in off the street, covered in mud and
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fill from the gutter. Pull up a chair, grab a piece of
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bread and expect a seat at. The table.
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The guards would execute you on the spot.
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Yet in our modern culture, there is this pervasive idea that God
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is just a casual buddy, the man upstairs who wings at our flaws,
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who just wants us to be happy, and who does not really care
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about the mud we drag onto the royal.
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Rugs, that is a very common view today, yeah.
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How should this total, absolute incompatibility when God's
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burning holiness and human evil reshape a person's daily
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mindset? It should completely shatter any
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sense of casual entitlement. We have domesticated God in the
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modern era. But the historical commentators
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did not make that mistake. Stark's commentary handles this
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with incredible clarity. He points out the frightful
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reality of human corruption. What does he say?
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Stark states that ungodly men are essentially like wild beasts
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in human form if they are not restrained by the common grace
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of God. We often severely underestimate
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the toxicity of our own rebellion.
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Wild beasts in human form. That is a core tenet of
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Reformation zeology, is it not the idea of total depravity?
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Yes. The concept that human beings
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left to their own devices are not just basically good people
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who make occasional mistakes, but are actually fundamentally
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corrupt and hostile to a holy God.
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Correct. John Calvin and Martin Luther
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both synthesized this concept perfectly in their respective
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writings on the Psalms. They agree that while we must
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act with piety and integrity before our fellow men, we must
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stand in absolute fear and trembling before God.
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It is a totally different posture.
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Because evil is not just a bookkeeping error, it is an
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active, treasonous rebellion against the King.
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That is why those who practice it are entirely frightened away
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from the place of worship. They cannot endure the
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penetrating judicial glance of the sovereign.
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Light and darkness cannot share the same parlor.
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I've heard a great quote about that.
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And Spurgeon vividly puts it, Yeah, Christ will not live in
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the parlor of our hearts if we entertain the devil in the
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cellar of our thoughts. Entertain the devil in the
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cellar of our thoughts. Spurgeon always knows how to
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land a punch. He really does.
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Oh, wait, I have to push back here.
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Yeah, this creates a massive theological pothole.
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OK, what is it? If God hates all workers of
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iniquity, if no one with evil can stand before the King, and
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we know that all humanity is flawed, including David, who
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famously he committed adultery and murder, how on earth does he
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dare to enter the sanctuary, right?
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By his own logic, David should be destroyed by the guards at
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the door. How does he survive this?
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That is the ultimate tension of the text.
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We are faced with the massive, impenetrable barrier of God's
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holiness. But that brings us to the
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solution, which is His mercy. Let's move to verse 7.
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But As for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of
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thy mercy, and in my fear will I worship toward Thy holy temple.
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Before we unpack the theology of how David gets in, I know there
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is a historical controversy surrounding this verse.
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I have read that some critical scholars argue David could not
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possibly have written this song. Ah.
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Yes, the date and controversy. Your argument rests on the words
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House and Holy Temple. They point out that the physical
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temple in Jerusalem was built by David's son Solomon years after
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David died. So if David is talking about
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walking into a temple, does that not prove he didn't write this?
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How does lands get around that chronological pothole?
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It is a common objection, but Lands resolves it by looking
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closely at both linguistic history and biblical theology.
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Linguistically, the Semitic word bait, which is translated as
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house, originally just meant a place to spend the night.
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So it wasn't necessarily a permanent building.
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Yeah, no, it was a very general functional term.
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When the patriarch Jacob slept in the open field using a rock
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for a pillow and had the vision of the ladder, he woke up and
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called that patch of dirt Bethel, the House of God.
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So house does not require a stone building with pillars.
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So a tent can be a house, yes. Furthermore, regarding the word
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temple or palace, Lange points out that heaven itself is the
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true eternal palace of God, the physical Tabernacle on earth.
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The animal skin tent that David actually used was just a
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pattern, a small scale replica of the heavenly reality.
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I see when Moses built the original Tabernacle in the
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wilderness, God explicitly told him to build it according to the
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pattern he was shown on the mountain.
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Because God is the supreme King, any place where his presence
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uniquely dwells is legitimately called his palace.
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Even the humble tent David set up in Jerusalem for the Ark of
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the Covenant could accurately and legally be called the palace
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or temple of Jehovah. That makes sense.
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It is the presence of the king that makes the location of
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palace, regardless of the building material.
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Exactly. If the king of England sets up a
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canvas tent in a field and holds court there, that tent is
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temporarily the Royal Court. Yeah, but let's look at the
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posture of the psalmist here. He says.
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I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy.
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He is not pointing to his own resume.
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Not at all. He just spent 3 verses detailing
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how God hates workers of iniquity and destroys liars.
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He knows his own history. He knows he cannot enter based
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on personal merit, right? His entrance is secured entirely
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by the multitude of God's mercy. It is an overwhelming, abundant,
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unearned mercy. But notice the pairing.
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He enters through mercy, but he worships in Thy fear.
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There is a dual nature to this approach.
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It is like having an all access backstage pass provided directly
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by the venue owner. You didn't buy the ticket, you
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couldn't afford the ticket. It was handed to you freely by
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the one in charge of the entire operation.
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That is a brilliant way to picture it.
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So you don't have to sneak in through the back door.
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You walk right past the security guards at the front gate because
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you have to pass. But even though you have bold
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access, when you step onto that stage and see the massive
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operation, the blinding lights, the sheer scale of the
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production, you are still struck with immense awe and respect.
21:45
Right, you're not goofing around.
21:46
You don't start casually kicking the equipment around.
21:49
You have access, but you also have intense reverence.
21:52
Help me analyze that friction. How does a person hold those two
21:56
things simultaneously? Entering boldly because of
21:58
Merced, yet bowing down. An intense fear.
22:02
The historical theologians have thought intensely about this
22:04
paradox. Augustine has a brilliant
22:07
summation of this dynamic. He writes, he pleases God whom
22:10
God pleases. I mean make sure I understand
22:12
that he pleases God whom God pleases.
22:15
So the believers confidence is not rooted in their own ability
22:17
to be pleasing, but entirely in the fact that God has
22:20
sovereignly chosen to be pleased with.
22:22
Them precisely. It is the core of grace.
22:24
You are pleasing to the King because the King decided to look
22:27
upon you with favor, not because you earned it.
22:30
That is a relief. Another commentator, Frisch,
22:33
observes that to overcome the enmity of the hostile world
22:36
outside, a person must first go into the sanctuary, completely
22:41
humiliate themselves before God, and rely entirely on that grace.
22:46
So the fear is appropriate. Yes, the friction you mentioned
22:49
is resolved when you realize that the fear of God is not a
22:52
panic terror of impending damnation.
22:55
It is a staggering reverence for the purity of the sovereign.
22:58
You enter the palace boldly because you are closed in the
23:01
King's mercy, but you bow down in fear because you know what
23:05
you would deserve if that clothing were removed.
23:07
That brings a massive weight to the morning routine.
23:10
You're actively putting on the King's mercy before you face the
23:13
day. But that is the catch, right?
23:15
You cannot stay in the sanctuary forever.
23:17
Eventually you have to leave. Eventually, morning Prayer ends.
23:19
You open the door and you have to step right back into the
23:21
crosshairs of your enemies. You have to walk into a
23:23
landscape filled with traps. How does this theology survive
23:27
contact with the real world? Let's look at verses 8 through
23:31
10. The transition in the text is
23:33
jarring but highly realistic. The psalmist goes from the quiet
23:37
reverence of the temple right back out into the brutal reality
23:41
of his enemies. Verse 8 says, Lead me, O Lord,
23:44
in thy righteousness. Because of mine, enemies make
23:47
thy way straight before my face. Make thy way straight.
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What does that imply? The Hebrew concept of making a
23:54
way straight or level is crucial here.
23:57
It does not mean giving the believer an easy, effortless
24:00
life where they just glide along on a moving walkway without
24:03
exerting energy. OK, so it's not a luxury cruise?
24:06
Right. It's specifically means removing
24:08
the unnatural hindrances, the ambushes, the massive stumbling
24:13
blocks that enemies have placed in the divine path.
24:16
I picture a massive snow plow clearing a highway after a
24:19
Blizzard. The snow plow does not drive
24:21
your car for you. You still have to grip the
24:23
steering wheel. You still have to press the gas
24:25
pedal. You still have to pay attention
24:27
to the ice on the road. That is an excellent
24:29
visualization. But the snow plow removes the
24:32
impossible barriers. It pushes the six foot
24:35
snowdrifts out of the way so that forward motion is actually
24:38
possible. If the plow doesn't go first,
24:40
you are stuck. Right.
24:42
The psalmist is asking God to be the vanguard, to clear the traps
24:46
set by deceitful men so that he can walk in practical
24:49
righteousness. And the description of these
24:51
enemies in verse 9 is brutally vivid.
24:54
Let's read it. There is no faithfulness in
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their mouth. Their inward part is very
24:58
wickedness. Their throat is an open
25:00
sepulchre. They flatter with their tongue.
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Their throat is an open sepulchre that is one of the
25:06
most graphic, unsettling metaphors in the entire biblical
25:09
text. An open tomb.
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It is terrifyingly graphic. The commentator Haldane provides
25:15
a striking analysis of this specific image.
25:18
We have to understand ancient burial practices.
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They didn't bury people in the ground like we do today, right?
25:23
No. In the ancient world, tombs were
25:25
sealed shut with massive stones, not just to keep grave robbers
25:29
out, but because of the severe toxic putrefaction taking place
25:32
inside a decaying body. In the Middle Eastern, heat
25:36
produces an unbearable stench. Yeah, that is awful to think
25:39
about. Haldane points out that just as
25:41
the foul exhalation leaking out of a cracked tomb proves the
25:44
severe rotting of the corpse inside, the corrupt, deceitful
25:48
conversation leaking out of a person's mouth proves the severe
25:51
moral corruption of their heart. The words are just the stench.
25:55
Yes, the flatteries and the lies are just the stench of spiritual
25:59
death escaping into the air. What is fascinating is that the
26:03
Apostle Paul quotes this exact verse in Romans chapter 3 when
26:07
he is building his grand theological thesis on the
26:10
universal depravity of all mankind.
26:12
So Paul uses David's specific complaint about his enemies to
26:16
diagnose the entire human race. We all have open tombs in our
26:20
throats. I do.
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But staying with David's immediate context, we have these
26:23
enemies breathing out the stench of death, setting traps,
26:26
flattering with their tongues while plotting destruction.
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And that leads to verse 10, which contains what theologians
26:32
call an imprecatory prayer. Yes, verse 10 is intense.
26:36
Destroy thou them, O God, Let them fall by their own counsels.
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Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions, for
26:42
they have rebelled against Thee. I just stop and ask the hard
26:46
question here. OK, go ahead.
26:47
For the modern listener, how do we deal with this?
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We are taught by Jesus in the New Testament to love our
26:54
enemies and pray for those who persecute us.
26:56
But here David is praying for their outright violent
27:00
destruction. Isn't that a massive
27:02
contradiction? This is one of the most debated
27:04
theological issues in the Psalms.
27:07
How do we reconcile the command to love our enemies with these
27:11
prayers for sheer judgment? We need to define what an
27:14
imprecatory prayer an imprecation is, a spoken curse,
27:19
a calling down of divine judgment or calamity upon an
27:22
enemy. Stark's commentary tackles this
27:24
directly and offers a vital distinction.
27:26
To resolve the apparent contradiction, Stark argues that
27:29
we must differentiate between two very different types of
27:32
enemies. What is the first type?
27:34
First, there are enemies who persecute us out of ignorance or
27:37
who simply slander us out of personal grievance or
27:39
misunderstanding. For them, we are commanded to
27:42
pray for mercy and conversion, just as Christ did on the cross.
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Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.
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OK, so personal grievances require grace, but what is the
27:51
second type? The second type are those who
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obstinately, willfully and relentlessly blasphemy known
27:58
truth. They are not acting out of
28:00
ignorance. They are acting out of a
28:02
conscious, hardened hatred for the King and his Kingdom.
28:05
They are trying to overthrow the divine order.
28:08
So. The prayer for destruction is
28:09
tied to their unyielding rebellion against God himself,
28:13
not just a personal grudge David holds because someone insulted
28:16
him. Precisely, look at the very end
28:18
of verse 10. For they have rebelled against
28:21
thee. The crime is not that they hurt
28:23
David's feelings. The crime is high treason
28:26
against the sovereign of the universe.
28:28
It is on a totally different level.
28:29
Stark notes that their punishment is not due to a lack
28:32
of available grace from God, but rather the heavy guilt of their
28:35
own wanton obstinacy. They have been offered the
28:38
King's amnesty and they have spat in the King's face.
28:41
And notice the specific mechanism of their downfall in
28:44
the text, David says. Let them fall by their own
28:46
counsels. He is not asking God to strike
28:49
them with a random lightning bolt.
28:51
No, He is asking God to allow the wicked devices they engineer
28:55
to be the exact instruments of their own ruin.
28:58
It is asking for the strict enforcement of divine justice
29:02
upon those who refuse all offers of Divine Mercy.
29:05
The downfall of the wicked is caused by the weight of their
29:08
own ungodly plans collapsing on top of them.
29:11
Like stepping into their own trap.
29:12
Exactly. If they dig a pit for the
29:15
righteous, David is praying that they fall into that exact pit.
29:18
That is a crucial distinction. It removes personal
29:22
vindictiveness from the equation and places the focus entirely on
29:26
the vindication of God's holy justice.
29:28
If someone refuses the King's mercy, they are eventually
29:31
subject to the King's law. That is the hard truth of it.
29:33
But the destruction of the wicked stands in stark contrast
29:36
to the final fate of those who trust in God.
29:39
This brings us to verses 11 and 12.
29:41
The contrast here is absolute. While the wicked fall by their
29:44
own counsels, verse 11 says, But let all those that put their
29:47
trust in the rejoice, let them ever shout for joy, because thou
29:51
defendest them. Let them also that love thy name
29:54
be joyful in thee. And then verse 12.
29:56
And then verse 12 provides the foundational guarantee for that
29:59
joy. For thou, Lord, wilt bless the
30:02
righteous with favor. Wilt thou compass him as with a
30:05
shield? I want to zero in on that word
30:08
shield. In English we just hear shield
30:10
and we might picture a small piece of wood or metal strapped
30:13
to a forearm. You know, pro from a medieval
30:16
movie, but the Hebrew text is much more specific about the
30:20
military hardware being referenced here, isn't it?
30:22
It is incredibly specific. The Hebrew word used here is
30:25
Sina. Sina.
30:27
Yes. This is not a small handheld
30:29
buckler used by a lightly armed soldier to parry sword strikes
30:33
in hand to hand combat. A buckler only protects a small
30:36
portion of the body at a time. It requires constant movement
30:40
and reflexes. The Cinna is a massive heavy
30:43
full body shield. Like how big?
30:45
To give you historical context, this is the exact same word used
30:48
in First Samuel to describe the gigantic shield carried by the
30:51
Philistine champion Goliath. Oh wow, so it's massive.
30:54
It is a piece of armor so large that it can cover a person
30:58
entirely from the top of their helmet to the dust at their
31:01
feet. When the psalmist says God will
31:04
compass or surround the believer with favor, as with a Sinner, he
31:08
is describing an impenetrable wall of protection that leaves
31:11
absolutely no part of the person exposed to enemy fire.
31:15
Let me put it this way. Carrying a small buckler is like
31:18
carrying an umbrella in a severe Category 4 hurricane.
31:22
You can angle the umbrella against the wind.
31:24
You might keep your head and shoulders relatively dry for a
31:26
minute, but your legs are getting soaked, the wind is
31:29
whipping around you, and you are still highly vulnerable to the
31:33
elements. Yeah, an umbrella won't save you
31:34
in a hurricane. The Senate is not an umbrella.
31:37
It is a reinforced concrete bunker.
31:40
You step inside, the heavy steel door seals tight, and it does
31:43
not matter how hard the rain falls or the wind howls, you are
31:47
entirely isolated from the destructive force outside.
31:49
That is a fantastic way to grasp it.
31:51
How does understanding God's favor as a full body concrete
31:55
bunker change a person's reaction to things like
31:58
workplace slander or personal attacks, which are the modern
32:01
equivalents of those deceitful tongues we talked about earlier?
32:04
It creates a massive psychological shift.
32:07
The commentator Art discusses this vividly.
32:10
He writes that the righteousness of faith is a mighty protection
32:13
against both spiritual and bodily enemies.
32:16
The grace of God functions as both an ornament of royal beauty
32:20
and an impenetrable military shelter.
32:22
So it changes how you react to the slander.
32:24
Absolutely. If you truly believe that God's
32:27
favor is a Sinner, a full body shield, your reaction to slander
32:31
changes from panic to a sort of quiet defiance.
32:35
You do not have to frantically run around trying to block every
32:37
single arrow of gossip or every single lie thrown at you because
32:41
you know the shield of the King's favor is absorbing the
32:44
impact. This is why the psalmist can
32:46
command the believer to shout for joy while they are still
32:49
surrounded by enemies. They are shouting from behind
32:51
this in the enemies are still shooting, the arrows are still
32:54
hitting the outside of the wall, but the traps are rendered
32:57
completely irrelevant by the scale of the defense.
33:01
The joy is not dependent on the absence of enemies.
33:04
The joy is dependent on the presence of the shield.
33:06
That is the key. And there is another historical
33:09
commentator, Herberger, who builds on this imagery.
33:12
He draws out a beautiful theological construct, arguing
33:15
that God crowns the believer who dwells in this shelter with four
33:19
distinct crowns. 4 crowns, let's hear them. 1st, the crown of
33:22
grace and mercy, which is the basis of our entry, as we saw
33:25
back in verse 7. Second, the crown of virtue and
33:28
piety, which represents the righteous path God clears for us
33:31
with the snow plow. 3rd And this one is surprising.
33:35
The crown of the cross or the crown of adversity?
33:38
Hold on a second, The crown of adversity.
33:40
I had to challenge that. That sounds entirely
33:41
contradictory to the modern era. We view adversity as a curse.
33:46
If life is hard, if people are attacking us, we assume God is
33:49
mad at us. How can adversity be a crown?
33:51
It does sound contradictory until you view it through the
33:54
lens of historical Christian theology, specifically the
33:57
theology of suffering. The crown of the cross means
34:00
that God dignifies the believer by allowing them to share in the
34:04
sufferings of Christ. Oh, I see.
34:06
The adversity, the slander from the open sepulchres, the
34:08
opposition from the world, these are not signs that God has
34:12
abandoned the believer. They are signs that the believer
34:14
is actively engaged in the conflict on the side of the
34:17
king. Bearing the hostility of the
34:19
world with patience is a mark of high royal honor.
34:23
It's a badge of honor, then. Yes, it refines the faith, it
34:26
burns away the impurities. And that leads directly to
34:29
Herberger's 4th crown, the crown of life, of honor, and of
34:33
everlasting bliss. The adversity is temporary, but
34:36
the life is eternal. OK, let's pull all of these
34:39
threads together. We have covered a massive amount
34:41
of ground today. We started in the quiet, anxious
34:44
moments of the early morning. With a silent, heavy sigh we
34:47
watched the meticulous physical arrangement of the wood for the
34:51
morning sacrifice of prayer. We confronted the terrifying,
34:54
burning reality of God's absolute holiness, where no evil
34:58
can be given hospitality. In the tent we found the
35:01
backstage pass, the multitude of mercy that allows a flawed
35:05
person to enter the palace and bow in fear.
35:09
We looked out at a hostile world filled with traps, in the stench
35:12
of open tombs. And finally we found absolute
35:15
security behind the massive full bodied Sinner shield.
35:19
The sweeping progression of this text is truly remarkable.
35:22
If we distill the core practical takeaways from all these
35:25
historical sources, the application for anyone listening
35:28
is clear and demanding. What is the main take away for
35:31
the listener? If you want to receive the grace
35:33
of God, you must actively use the means of grace God has
35:36
provided. Do not let your morning prayer
35:38
be a casual afterthought mumbled into a pillow.
35:40
Make it a deliberate, expectant action.
35:43
Arrange the wood, draw the bowstring and most importantly,
35:46
stand on the watchtower and look carefully for the answer, fully
35:49
expecting the Sovereign to act on behalf of his covenant
35:52
subject. I want to leave everyone with a
35:53
final thought to chew on today. It builds on everything we have
35:57
just discussed. We established that God's
36:00
holiness is so absolute that no one with evil can be a guest in
36:03
His house. The foolish cannot stand in His
36:06
sight. And yet we also know that we
36:09
ourselves are flawed. We carry our own guilt, our own
36:12
open tombs. But then we have the sin of
36:14
shield. We usually think of that massive
36:17
full body shield as something facing outward, protecting us
36:21
from the attacks of the hostile world.
36:22
Yeah, that is the standard view. But what if that sin of shield,
36:25
the favor and imputed righteousness of the King, is
36:28
not just blocking the arrows of the enemy?
36:30
What if that massive shield is actually covering your own flaws
36:34
for the penetrating judicial gaze of the King himself?
36:37
What if the shield is the only reason you are not consumed by
36:40
the fire of His Holiness, allowing you to stand boldly in
36:43
the private dining room of the palace as a welcome guest?
36:47
Keep your eyes fixed on the target of your prayers.
36:50
Thank you for joining us on this deep dive.