Psalm 5:7

Note: Calvin makes a point of whether the verse properly begins with and so as to make it a continuation of the preceding verse or if it is properly rendered but where David contrasts himself with the men previously mentioned. I think it is safe to say that most agree it is in contrast to the aforementioned men, making but the more appropriate word; though the consideration is a minor one. Calvin says, “[…] the prophet, by simply commending his own piety towards God, separates himself from the class of whom he spoke.” Derek Kidner makes the point, “The significance of the words But I… will come into your house is sharpened by their proximity to 4b, ‘Nor shall evil dwell with you.’”

There is also some controversy as to whether or not your house refers to the tabernacle or not. Franz Delitzsch makes an almost bullet proof case that it is but does so in a manner that is too lengthy to include here. I operate on that reasonable assumption based on what he provided there and with what some of the others have defaulted to as well. Derek Kidner, and to a lesser degree John Gill, say otherwise, but I don’t think they got this right after a review of the evidence.

“But as for me I will come into your house…”
¨      The scope of the passage leads us to understand [David] as promising to give thanks to God. He had before spoken of his enemies as hated of God; and now, being persuaded that God will keep him in safety, he calls himself to the exercise of gratitude. JC
¨      [This] Psalm…, states what he, on the contrary, may and will do. K&D, Franz Delitzsch
¨      While mine enemies, whom the Lord abhors, are put down, I, whom thou lovest as thy pious worshipper, will come into thine house (to thank thee for deliverance), not through mine own power, but through thy favor. JFB, A.R. Fausset
¨      I will come, to wit, with holy boldness and confidence, as becomes thy son and servant; whereas my enemies cannot appear in thy presence with any comfort and safety. MP
¨      The contrastive phrase “but I” expresses the psalmist’s hope in God’s love over against God’s certain hatred of all forms of evil. EBC, W. VanGemeren

“[…] in the multitude of your mercy…”
¨      [It is] as if he had said, I may now seem to be in a condition almost desperate, but by the favor of God, I shall be kept in perfect safety. JC
¨      By the greatness and fullness of divine favor he has access to the sanctuary, and he will accordingly repair thither today. It is the tabernacle on Zion in which was the ark of the covenant that is meant here… Into this tabernacle of God, i.e. into its front court, will David enter this morning, there he will prostrate himself in worship, towards Jehovah’s the Holy of holies. K&D, Franz Delitzsch
¨      […] trusting only in thy great mercy for admittance… and acceptance… for which I will come to pay my thanks and service unto thee. MP
¨      […] I will not come… by my own merits; no, I have a multitude of sins, and therefore I will come in the multitude of thy mercy. I will approach thee with confidence because of thine immeasurable grace. God’s judgments are all numbered, but His mercies are innumerable; He gives His wrath with weight, but without weight His mercy. CHS
¨      The hope of fellowship with God is based not on his righteousness but on His sovereign “love”… For the psalmist, the hope of entering into the temple is much more than the typical walking into the courts of the temple… The psalmist seeks the affirmation of God’s love for him in an evil world and hence the assurance of God’s presence with him. EBC, W. VanGemeren

“In fear of you I will worship toward your holy temple.”
¨      […] hypocrites, in giving thanks to God, do nothing else but profane His name, inasmuch as they themselves are unholy and polluted, he therefore resolves to come in the fear of God, in order to worship Him with a sincere and upright heart… [It] is only through the goodness of God that we have access to Him…; no man prays aright but he who, having experienced His grace, believes and is fully persuaded that He will be merciful to him. The fear of God is at the same time added, in order to distinguish genuine and godly trust from the vain confidence of the flesh. JC
¨      As the sculpture is on the seal, so will the print on the wax be; if the fear of God be deeply engraven on thy heart, there is no doubt but it will make a suitable impression on the duty thou perfomest. William Gurnall
¨      David’s reverent fear of God is the result of the grace of God experienced in his deliverance. JFB, A.R. Fausset
¨      His submission to his covenantal God is further illustrated by the manner of his approach. He bows down “in reverence,” not in paralyzing fear. EBC, W. VanGemeren
¨      David resolves… to worship Him reverently and with a due sense of the infinite distance between God and man…; God is greatly to be feared by all His worshippers. MH

Personal Summary:

What prevents the saints from drawing close to God? We have the blessing of being viewed not as ourselves, where if that were the case we would be just as damnable as the wicked, but through the prism of the imputed righteousness of Christ. We do indeed stand opposed and separate from the lost; based on Christ we are, when compared, like David, found righteous where they are found evil. That is a glaring contrast between us and them and one that we may revel in as long as our revelry leads us to give thanks to God. It is in Him that we find salvation, it is in Him that we may joy, it is in Him that we are saved from the evil plots of those that persecute us. How can we be left to say anything other than what Robert Hawker said in summing up this verse, “[…] how blessed it is for us to draw nigh to Jesus, who hath come, and who is both the mercy seat, the sacrifice, and the temple; the way, the truth, the life!” Calvin and others stated how openly this concept of grace, deliverance and acceptance led David to worship God and give thanks and how can we but do otherwise? Our life is a long chain of blessings which truly began at salvation and ends with glorification; from blessing to blessing we live and somewhere between the first and the last we experience so much grace that should our sinful hearts even attempt to number them we would fail to see even a small percentage of what the Lord has actually given us.

One of the times that we seem to be most in tune with recognizing the blessings of God is when we are in the midst of a difficult time; whatever the cause of that difficulty may be. While there are a litany of reasons the Lord allows us to go through these times, I cannot but think that one of them is to lead us to recognize His gracious dealing with us when previously our hearts had become complacent in seeing His sovereign hand at work in us. Calvin says, “[…] as our carnal minds either wickedly undervalue the grace of God, or put the low estimate upon it which is commonly put by the world, let us learn to extol its wonderful greatness, which is sufficient to enable us to overcome all fears.” These times cause us to look for and remember the many times the Lord has been gracious to us and when He delivers us, yet again, it causes us with David “to be grateful to God for it, and keep it in remembrance.”

With this principle firmly entrenched in the heart of every believer we learn to exist in the fear of the Lord, with a reverential sincere heart that depends on Him, and in hope, knowing He has been gracious to us in the past and expecting Him to be gracious to us going forward based on the merits of His Son Jesus Christ. That comprises the perfect state of Christianity. Martin Luther says, “A blessed verse this is! A blessed saying! The words and the sense itself, carry with them a powerful contrast. For there are two things with which this life are exercised, HOPE and FEAR… Between these two, as between the upper and nether millstone, we must always be ground and kept, that we never turn either to the right hand or the left. For this turning is the state peculiar to hypocrites, who are [also] exercised with the two contrary things, security and presumption.”

Let us then look to the Lord with reverence and awe, let us lean on His grace for deliverance and sustenance, let us give thanks that He is working in our hearts and in our lives and that He does not allow His children to be destroyed with the wicked. He is a beautiful God worthy of all praise and honor and if our hope is in Him, and is we desire to see His will accomplished in preference to our own, we will never be disappointed or let down. Laus Deo!