'Do you see yonder wicket Gate?' Evangelist pointing Christian in Bunyan's Pilgrims Progress to the way of salvation Gleanings in the Psalms
(Psalm 5)

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Verses 1 - 2 "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" LEARN
  1. When the Lord Giveth us a mouth to speak to him, thee is ground of hope He will grant an ear to us; so reasoneth David … GIVE EARTO MY WORDS, O LORD.
  2. In time of trouble, the heart hath more to say to God than words can utter; and what a man cannot express, the Lord will take knowledge of it, no less than of his words; this the prophet hopeth for, saying … CONSIDER MY MEDITATION.
  3. When extremity of danger forceth a way to the Lord, the believer's necessity hath a voice, louder than his expressed words, and whereunto the Lord will give ear … HEARKEN TO THE VOICE OF MY CRY.
  4. It is a point of spiritual wisdom for the help of our faith, to take hold of those relations we have with God, whereby we may expect what we pray for, as David doth here, when we would have protection and delivery, saying MY KING AND MY GOD.
  5. Faith knoweth no other to pray unto for help, save God alone, nor any other way to be helped, save by perseverance in prayer … FOR UNTO THEE WILL I PRAY, saith he.

David Dickson.

Verse 3.‏ "My voice shall thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up". The prophet in these words, makes use of two military terms. First - he would not only pray, but marshal up his prayers; he would put them in battle array. Second - When he hath done this, then he would be as a SPY upon his watch-tower, to see whether he prevailed, whether he got the day or not. When David had set his prayers, his petitions, in rank and file, in good array, then he was resolved that he would look abroad, he would look around him to see at what door God would send in answer to prayer. He is either a fool, or a madman that prays and prays but never looks after his prayers; that shoots many an arrow to heaven, but never minds where his arrows alight.

Thomas Brooks

Verse 3. For want of looking up many a prayer is lost. If you do not believe why do you pray? And if you believe why do you not expect? Mordecai, no doubt, had put up many prayers for Esther, and, therefore, he waits at the king's gate … Do thou likewise.

William Gurnall

Verse 5. "The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity". What an astonishing thing is sin, which maketh the God of love and the Father of mercies an enemy of his creatures, and which could only be purged by the blood of the Son of God!

Thomas Adams


Verse 6. "Thou shall destroy them that speak leasing (lies)". In the same field wherin Absalom raised battle against his father stood the oak that was his gibbet. The mule whereon he rode was his hangman, for the mule carried him tot he tree, and the hair wherein he gloried served for a rope to hang him. Little know the wicked how everything which they have now shall be a snare to trap them when God begins to punish them.

William Cowper


Verse 10. "Destroy thou them, O God". Lord, when in my daily service I read David's psalms, give me to alter the accent of my soul according to their several subjects. In such psalms wherein he confesseth his sins, or requesteth they pardon, or praiseth for former, or prayeth for future favours; in all these give me to raise my soul to as high a pitch as may be. But when I come to such psalms wherein he curseth his enemies, O there, let me bring my soul down to a lower note. For those words were made only to fit David's mouth. I have the like breath, but not the same spirit to pronounce them. Nor let me flatter myself, that it is lawful for me, with David, to curse thine enemies, lest my deceitful heart entitle MINE enemies to be THINE: and so, what was religion in David, prove malice in me, whilst I act revenge under the pretence of piety.

Thomas Fuller


Verse 12. "… With favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield". The shield is not for the defence of any particular part of the body, as almost all the other pieces are; helmet fitted for the head; breastplate designed for the breast; and so others, they have their several parts which they are fastened to; but the shield is a piece that is intended for the whole body. The shield doth not only defend the body, but it is a defence for the soldier's armour also; it keeps the arrow from the helmet as well as from the head, from the breast and breastplate also. Thus faith! It is an armour upon armour, a grace that preserves all the other graces.

William Gurnall



(HAVE YOU READ THE PSALM? These "gleanings" are
intended as a HELP to reading, not a SUBSTITUTE)


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This Page Title – Gleanings in the Psalms – Psalm 5
The Wicket Gate Magazine "A Continuing Witness".
Internet Edition number 40 – placed on line January 2003
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