PSALM V. 1–6.

Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.

DAVID

AVID must have been the writer of this Psalm, for the language seems to be peculiarly his. He speaks as one who had suffered bitterly from the treachery and wickedness of his enemies; and such was most truly his own case.

In these first six verses, we shall see that he thankfully turns from the falsehood and deceit of his persecutors to the truthfulness and faithfulness of God. He does not look around him with hopeless despondency, but he lifts up his eyes to heaven with trustful confidence. He feels assured that, however well these ungodly men may succeed in a worldly point of view, they will find no favour with God, but will in the end meet with the condemnation they deserve.

You will see that, in the second verse, he addresses the Lord as "his King and his God." Though a king himself, David acknowledges his subjection to God, as his supreme Ruler. He felt too that, as a King, God could not permit evil to triumph in His kingdom; and that, as God, He had full power to put it down. And to whom should a subject apply, but to his Sovereign? To whom should a sinner fly, but to his God?

In the third verse he speaks of the early morning as his hour of prayer: "My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up." At the close of the last Psalm he had said that he would lie down in peace, and sleep, because God was his safeguard. And here, on waking, his first resolve is that the earliest accents of his voice should mount up to God.

Those who are in earnest will seek God early. They will get the start of the world, and take the first opportunity of holding communion with God. For who knows what a day may bring forth? Who can protect himself from the dangers that encompass him? Who can enable us to discharge rightly the duties which each fresh day presents? Feeble, and helpless, and sinful, we have need to put ourselves unreservedly in the hands of our God. It was St. Chrysostom's advice, that we should wash our souls before we wash the body.' The Morning

Prayers and Meditations of a devout soul are like the early dew-drops on the grass, sparkling in the first rays of the rising sun.

Such was the practice of our Lord Himself. We are told in St. Mark, i. 35, that "In the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed." And may such be our practice also! May we, ere the world rushes in to disturb us, make our best and holiest offerings to God! May we "look up," expecting an answer of peace from heaven!

The Psalmist gives a reason, in the third and following verse's, why God will hear him, and take up his cause; namely, because the opposition against him was a wicked opposition, and God could have "no pleasure in wickedness;" neither could He bear iniquity, and those who "speak leasing," or falsehood.

It is a comforting thought that God is a just God, and that His people, when oppressed and spoken against, can look up and say, as Job did, "My witness is in heaven, and my record is on high."

PSALM V. 7-12.

But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple. Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face. 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. 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. 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. For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.

IT is remarkable how often David's love for

God's House comes out in the Psalms. No one knew better than he did the consolation that is to be found there. Whilst then his enemies had no desire to serve God, he says in the seventh verse, "As for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy; and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple." Like every other pious Jew, he was a constant worshipper; and when absent from Jerusalem, his face and his heart were often turned "towards" the temple. It seemed to him as if that was the peaceful home of God.

He again speaks of his enemies in the eighth and ninth verses, and asks God to enable him to steer a straight course in the midst of their treachery and faithlessness, lest if he made a single false step they should triumph over him; "Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies make thy way straight before my face. 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."

But we are a little startled by the strong language used in the next verse: "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."

There is something in this which seems at first sight almost revengeful. But we must bear in mind that David's enemies were also God's enemies, for they were in actual revolt against Him; "They have rebelled against thee." Hence David, from a zeal for God's honour, asks Him to "destroy them," thus dealing with them as they deserved. He could have borne their opposition against himself, but he could not bear their rebellion against God.

In the last two verses the Psalmist speaks of the safety and the joy of God's servants; "But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice :