Psalm 5 English Standard Version

Lead Me in Your Righteousness

1 Give ear to my words, O Lord; consider my groaning.
2 Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray.
3 O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.

4 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you.
5 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers.
6 You destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

7 But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house. I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you.
8 Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me.

9 For there is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue.
10 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.

11 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.
12 For you bless the righteous, O Lord; you cover him with favor as with a shield.

This Psalm of David was shown as a vision by Jesus, seeing David singing on the show The Chosen. Choosing this psalm at this time in the show is very powerful because the Psalm itself begs all of us to ask the same for ourselves, to be led by His Righteousness.

What stuck me about this psalm were the words “their throat is an open grave”. The self-righteous speak only death but they do not know it and they prattle on as if they alone have all the answers. Those words ring in my ears every day now. It feels like nothing has changed in 2000 years.

But it has. I have changed. To know Him is to love Him. To love Him is to love others. His love is the difference.

Matthew 12:39-41

But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

This was the answer to a question. What was the question?

Matthew 12:38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.”

Some answered a question with a question. This is a sign of lack of understanding. What did Jesus ask of them that they could not answer?

Matthew 12:34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

It all begins with the condition of the heart and that evil generation did not know their own hearts.

Luke 18:9-14 English Standard Version

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The one who knows the condition of his heart and confesses he is unworthy and seeks mercy will find it.

While it was too late for the Pharisee, it is not too late for any sinner who confesses and seeks mercy from God through faith in the Lamb who was slain as the sign of Jonah.

How is your heart?