Psalm 5:8 KJ Lead me, O Lord, in Thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make Thy way straight before my face.
Blessed is the man that does not trust in his own way but realizes he needs the Lord to lead him. He knows who his enemies are and how easy he could be overcome trusting in his own self.
Psalm 5:9-10 KJ For there is no
faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat
is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue.
10 Destroy Thou them, O God; let them fall by their
own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they
have rebelled against Thee.
Verses like these are sometimes difficult for Christians to understand. In such cases the Old Testament Scriptures are deemed less valuable. This fifth psalm is a psalm of David. David is referred to as “the man of God” in II Chronicles 8:14. God Himself testified that David was a man after His own heart (Acts 13:22). And Jesus is often called the son of David (Matthew 1:1). Yet in this psalm David is praying for God to destroy his enemies. But listen to what Jesus says about our enemies in His sermon on the mount: You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. Matthew 5:43-45 NKJ.
David praying for God to destroy his enemies and Jesus saying we should love our enemies really sounds like two opposites, doesn’t it? Can they both be the Word of God? Yes, they can; but we must understand them correctly. First, let’s look at what Jesus said about loving our enemies. He says, Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you (in other words, be a channel of blessing to others); that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. The Greek word for “sons” here is huios, which literally means “mature sons” that have taken on the nature of the Father. The sons (huios) of God are led by the Spirit of God (Romans 8:14). When you love your enemies by being a channel of God’s love, then the Lord can reach through you and bring change to the lives of your enemies. Jesus is speaking of how you should relate to others for their salvation. Now let’s look at David’s prayer.
Who are the enemies that David wants destroyed by God? They are the enemies of his own flesh nature – those that are in him. He wants God to destroy the thing in him that has kept him from being as faithful to God as he wants to be. He wants the inward wickedness of his heart destroyed. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9 KJ. He also realizes the defiling nature of his tongue and prays for deliverance. Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. James 3:5-6 NKJ. David in his zeal for God rises up and cries, Destroy Thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions: for they have rebelled against Thee.
David, in this psalm, represents the “man after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22). These things of which David speaks and wants destroyed are resident within the flesh nature of every man, woman, and child. But until you determine to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30), they don’t harass you very much. In fact, it takes a revelation of the Lord to make you aware of them. Isaiah, a prophet of the Lord, only became aware of his unclean lips after he saw the Lord high and lifted up. Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Isaiah 6:5 KJ.
Galatians 5:14 KJ For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
The commandments of the law are fulfilled in one word: love your neighbor as yourself. You will remember that when Jesus was asked which is the first commandment of all He responded by saying, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Mark 12:29-31 KJ. How is it that all the law is fulfilled by this? That level of love is divine love and when you have entered into it, all your enemies that are within you have been destroyed by God. Every commandment is fulfilled by that love.
Galatians 5:15 KJ But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.
Because this verse is in the Bible it is speaking to Christians. Without the love of verse 14 Christians will bite and devour one another. This kind of biting and devouring one another takes place all the time among Christians. It is a part of human nature. “O God, destroy this enemy of ours. Set us free from it that we might love one another.”
Galatians 5:16 KJ This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
If you are not walking in the Spirit, you are fulfilling the lust of the flesh. It is not that the lust of the flesh is in some and not in others. The lust of the flesh is a common characteristic of human nature. It is one of your enemies that must be destroyed. Walking in the Spirit is something many Christians do not do. What does walking in the Spirit mean? It means you are being led by the Spirit and not by your own reasonings. The word “walking” implies progress; you are moving from one place to another. If you are walking in the Spirit, you are constantly making progress in the Lord. You are becoming more and more spiritual and less and less human.
Galatians 5:17 KJ For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
The lusting of your flesh is in opposition to the Spirit. It works against you to keep you from being yielded to the Lord. Enhoused within every Christian is a nature that rebels against God. After you realize it is there, you will battle against it. Then when you realize that you cannot overcome it, you will cry out to God like David did, Lead me, O Lord, in Thy righteousness because of mine enemies…Destroy them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgression; for they have rebelled against Thee.
“Lead us, O Lord, in Thy righteousness because of our enemies; and destroy Thou them, O God. Amen!”
Copyright © 2009 by Henry DuBose