Does your daily prayer routine include asking God to curse?
Psalm 5 (NIV)
For the director of music. For pipes. A psalm of David.
1 Listen to my words, Lord,
consider my lament.
2 Hear my cry for help,
my King and my God,
for to you I pray.
3 In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;
in the morning I lay my requests before you
and wait expectantly.
4 For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness;
with you, evil people are not welcome.
5 The arrogant cannot stand
in your presence.
You hate all who do wrong;
6 you destroy those who tell lies.
The bloodthirsty and deceitful
you, Lord, detest.
7 But I, by your great love (ḥěʹ·sěḏ),
can come into your house;
in reverence I bow down
toward your holy temple.
8 Lead me, Lord, in your righteousness
because of my enemies—
make your way straight before me.
9 Not a word from their mouth can be trusted;
their heart is filled with malice.
Their throat is an open grave;
with their tongues they tell lies.
10 Declare them guilty, O God!
Let their intrigues be their downfall.
Banish them for their many sins,
for they have rebelled against you.
11 But let all who take refuge in you be glad;
let them ever sing for joy.
Spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
12 Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous;
you surround them with your favor as with a shield.
Canons of Dordt
Point 1 - God's Unconditional Election
Articles 1-9
Article 10: Election Based on God’s Good Pleasure
The cause of this undeserved election is exclusively the good pleasure of God.
This does not involve God’s choosing certain human qualities or actions from among all those possible as a condition of salvation,
but rather involves
adopting certain particular persons
from among the common mass of sinners
as God’s own possession.
Summary
David would have found our normal prayer posture - folding our hands, bowing our heads and closing our eyes - to be quite odd. There's nothing wrong with praying that way, and there are many benefits to doing so, but it's hard to imagine David's head bowed and hands folded as he begins his prayer by blurting out for the LORD to listen to my words and to hear my cry for help.
David certainly isn't being irreverent in His prayer. He acknowledges the LORD as my King and my God. But David knows that the relationship goes deeper than just a king and his subject. David knows what we confess here in the Canons, that he is God's own possession. David realizes that he's been set apart from the arrogant, bloodthirsty and deceitful people because of the LORD's ḥěʹ·sěḏ - God's great covenantal love.
Both David's identity and his daily activities are defined by God's ḥěʹ·sěḏ love. Psalm 5 is often referred to as the Morning Psalm due to how David notes that he begins each day by laying his requests before the LORD. As important as it is for you to regularly take part in gathered corporate worship, you must also come into the LORD's house and reverently bow down toward His holy temple every day on your own.
David here, inspired by the Holy Spirit, helps demonstrate that everything you have going on: your laments, pleas for help, and even seemingly mundane daily requests can and must be lifted to the LORD in your daily personal prayers.
Dig Deeper
David actually stuffs two separate prayers into this short Psalm. The second prayer begins in v8 with a straightforward request to lead me, LORD, in your righteousness. But the other requests David makes are anything but straight forward.
In the first prayer of this Psalm, David acknowledged who God was by stating what and who God hates - all those who do wrong. In this second prayer, David actually asks God to declare them guilty, and to banish them for their many sins.
These sort of requests for God to bring misfortune and disaster upon His enemies are called imprecatory prayers, and the Psalms are full of them. Some Christians consider them an embarrassment and contrary to Jesus' teaching to love our enemies.
But Holman's Bible Dictionary helps explain why these imprecatory psalms ought to be included in your regular prayer life: these Biblical prayers remind us that:
vengeance belongs to the LORD, not to us;
God's righteousness demands judgment on the wicked;
God's ḥěʹ·sěḏ love for His covenant people necessitates His intervention and protection for them;
You can trust God with all of your thoughts and desires when you pray to Him.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, my King and my God;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that God will lead you in His righteousness even as He brings vengeance to all those who do wrong;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: Hebrews 4
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