Psalm 5

In Psalm 5, David is in anguish. His distress is caused by the words of the wicked. One of the many statements that stand out to me in this Psalm is when David recognizes and admits his own sinfulness in verse 7. He knows that the only thing that distinguishes him from his wicked adversaries is God's mercy. He says, "But I, by your great mercy, will come into your house; in reverence will I bow down toward your holy temple." (vs.7)

I am reminded of Hebrews 4:16, when reading this Psalm. David speaks to the Lord with confidence, asking Him for help during this time of need. "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" Hebrews 4:16.

In his book Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ, John Piper ends Chapter 10, The Incarnate Wealth of the Compassion of God, with a prayer pleading with God for mercy.

He writes,

O Father, how we need mercy. We sin every day. We fall short of your command to love you with all our heart and soul and mind and strength. We are lukewarm in our affections. All our motives, even at their best, are mixed. We murmur. We are anxious about tomorrow. We get angry too quickly. We desire what ought not be desired. We get irritated at the very attitudes in others that we ourselves displayed five minutes before. If you do not show mercy to us, we are undone. O God, let us see the mercy of Christ and savor it for what it is. Grant us power to comprehend his love. Incline us to read and ponder the stories of the mercy of Jesus in the Gospels. Let us so admire what he did that we imitate him. But let it be much more than external imitation. Let it come from the heart where we have been broken for our sin and where we have come to cherish mercy and live by mercy and hope in mercy and long for mercy. Make the mercy of Jesus the greatest beauty of the Savior in our eyes. Let us behold, and beholding, become like him. And bend this taste of mercy outward so that we show it. Make us full of his mercy that we might show mercy. Fulfill in us the command to do justice and love mercy. Let us love showing mercy. Make it so much a part of us that it is who we are. So unite us to Christ that his mercy is our mercy, and our mercy is a presenting of Christ. He is all we have to give in the end. Glorify his mercy, Father, in our faith and in our patience. Thank you, oh, thank you, for Christ and your mercy to us in him. In his name we pray, amen.