Psalms 5:11

Psalms A STAIRCASE OF THREE STEPSPsalm 5:11 - Psalm 5:12 . I have ventured to isolate these three clauses from their context, because, if taken in their sequence, they are very significant of the true path by which men draw nigh to God and become righteous. They are all three designations of the same people, but regarded under different aspects and at different stages. There is a distinct order in them, and whether the Psalmist was fully conscious of it or not, he was anticipating and stating, with wonderful distinctness, the Christian sequence-faith, love, righteousness. These three are the three flights of stairs, as it were, which lead men up to God and to perfection, or if you like to take another metaphor, meaning the same thing, they are respectively the root, the stalk, and the fruit of religion. ‘They that put their trust in Thee . . . them also that love Thy Name . . . the righteous.’ I. So, then, the first thought here is that the foundation of all is trust. Now, the word that is employed here is very significant. In its literal force it really means to ‘flee to a refuge.’ And that the literal signification has not altogether been lost in the spiritual and metaphorical use of it, as a term expressive of religious experience, is quite plain from many of the cases in which it occurs.

Let me just repeat one of them to you. ‘Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful to me, for my soul trusteth in Thee; yea, in the shadow of Thy wings will I make my refuge.’ There the picture that is in the words is distinctly before the Psalmist’s mind, and he is thinking not only of the act of mind and heart by which he casts himself in confidence upon God, but upon that which represents it in symbol, the act by which a man flees into some hiding-place. The psalm is said in the superscription to have been written when David hid in a cave from his persecutor. Though no weight be given to that statement, it suggests the impression made by the psalm. In imagination we can see the rough sides of the cavern that sheltered him arching over the fugitive, like the wings of some great bird, and just as he has fled thither with eager feet and is safely hidden from his pursuers there, so he has betaken himself to the everlasting Rock, in the cleft of which he is at rest and secure. To trust in God is neither more nor less than to flee to Him for refuge, and there to be at peace.

Psalm 5:11-12 . But let those that put their trust in thee — That dare rely on thy word and promise when all human hopes and refuges fail; rejoice — Let them have cause of great joy from thy love and care of them; because thou defendest them — As it follows. Let them also that love thy name — That is, thy majesty and glory, thy word and worship, all which is called God’s name, in Scripture; be joyful — Hebrew, יעלצו , jangletzu, exult in thee. Thus David does not confine his prayer to his party, but prays for, and predicts the happiness of all good men, though some of them, through their own mistakes, or other men’s artifices, might now be in a state of opposition to him. And so, as the preceding verse foretold the perdition of the ungodly, this describes the happiness of the saints. For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous — Thou hast engaged thyself by promise and covenant, and art resolved to bless them, and therefore my prayer for them is agreeable to thy will; with favour — With thy love and gracious providence; wilt thou compass him as with a shield — That is, keep him safe on every side.

11 But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee. Joy is the privilege of the believer. When sinners are destroyed our rejoicing shall be full. They laugh first and weep ever after; we weep now, but shall rejoice eternally. When they howl we shall shout, and as they must groan for ever, so shall we ever shout for joy. This holy bliss of ours has affirm foundation, for O Lord, we are joyful in thee. The eternal God is the well-spring of our bliss. We love God, and therefore we delight in him. Our heart is at ease in our God. We fare sumptuously every day because we feed on him. We have music in the house, music in the heart, and music in heaven, for the Lord Jehovah is our strength and our song; he also is become our salvation.