Psalm 5.5-10
In our modern culture, swayed by the post-modernist mind set, many avoid classifying choices as right or wrong. Having become so thoroughly morally relativistic, what was once a bad idea is now an appropriate lifestyle choice for some. One need only watch one popular daytime talk show, whose host is now considered a spiritual leader in America, without being a truly spiritual person, by the way, to see how our society dances around the issue of good and evil. We might bemoan the tragedies visited upon the innocent, but we dare not call evil for what it is.
David had no such qualms about naming bad behavior for what bad behavior is: sin, wickedness, evil, rebellion against God. Further, David was not confused at all as to God’s response to evil: he simply cannot tolerate sin. God takes no pleasure in sin, nor can evil dwell with God. With words that reverberate with the truths of Psalm 1, David declared that "the boastful will not be able to take their stand before you." Just as the blessed one does not "take his stand" in the way of sinners, the sinner is incapable of mounting a stand in God’s presence for what he believes.
David provided quite a list of evil-doers: the boastful, workers of iniquity, liars, those who shed blood and are the deceitful. Further, these are persons who are ultimately unreliable, are inwardly self-destructive, are oriented towards death, and flatter for the purpose of self-promotion. Now, in the modern era, we might try to discover why a person would be so self-conflicted (poor parents, poor genes, an oppressive society). At any cost, we avoid placing the blame for bad behavior on the badly behaving person; he is not at fault.
As far as David was concerned, though, people get into trouble because they rebel against God. When a person lives life based on his own wise counsel, he is doomed to fall. We make choices and we experience consequences. When we live by our own wisdom, we, in fact, are transgressing the Law of God and rebelling against him. Such behavior ends in disaster. Do you need proof? Look at the world around you. People go to jail, marriages fail, drug addiction is a problem, all because of poor choices.
David described 5 things belonging to God that were the foundation of his decisions. First, David based his whole life upon the concept of God’s "covenant loyalty," or, "steadfast love." Acting in a biblically ethical way was natural for David. Being faithful to God resulted from his knowledge that God had been and would be faithful to him. God’s reliability was and is based upon the covenant he had made with his people. So, faithfulness to God, not faithfulness to one’s self, was the benchmark truth for David.
Second, he said he would come into "Your house.." In other psalms, David pondered the possibility of entering into intimacy with God. In Psalm 15, he wondered, "Who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill?" In Psalm 24, David asked, "Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? And who may stand in His holy place?" His answer? "No evil dwells with You" (v. 4). So, for David to enter into God’s house required holiness on his part.
Third, in "Your holy temple I will bow in reverence for You." In other words, David would worship God, literally, "in fear." David was not afraid of God, yet, in all he did, he considered the reality of God. In all things, God was the ultimate truth against which David made his choices.
Fourth, David asked God to "lead me in Your righteousness." David did not try to affirm his own goodness, nor the worth of his own wisdom. He sought God’s rightness. He knew he was unable to stand in his own strength and wisdom against his foes; only in God’s very being could he find victory (cf. Psa. 23.3-5). Fifth, David wanted God’s way to be "straight" before him. He wanted a clear view of where God was leading him, a path not obscured by David’s own faulty reasoning. Whether David, or we, understood, agreed with, or liked God’s way was beside the point. David needed only to follow.
For David, only two realities existed: respectful obedience towards God, or, outright rebellion against him. David knew the world provided a sinful, failed context for life. All are born into that imperfect environment. We all, then, are failures, and go on failing. Only in recognizing that we cannot change the environment can we discover the answer for our problems. We change ourselves with respect to God. We have regard for him in all things, respect his Laws, recognize and receive his offer of grace through Christ, and, thus, find regeneration. Otherwise, we are doomed to fall.
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