Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Being Led By Love | The Writings | Psalm 5

Episode Date: January 5, 2024

What does it look like to have a faith that actually makes a difference in your life? In today's episode, TMBT's new host, Jeff Parrett, shares how to encounter God and let his love lead you this year. Find encouragement in Psalm 5. Read the Bible with us in 2024! This year, we’re tackling a group of Old Testament books traditionally known as “The Writings”— Psalms, Chronicles, Proverbs, Daniel, Ruth and more! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Psalm 5

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jeff Parrott. Many people around the world today are believers in a religion that's impacting every part of their lives, and they're doing it on accident. The name of that religion? Moral Therapeutic Deism. That's the name coined in a 2005 book called Soul Searching,

written by Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton. Soul Searching examines the religious views of American teenagers based on thorough research in the national study of youth and religion. While the book is nearly 20 years old now, the tenets of moral therapeutic deism are as alive as ever. In fact, what was observed 20 years ago has only developed and spread over time. What are the beliefs of moral therapeutic deism? Smith and Denton list five pillars based on their thorough research. Belief 1. A God exists who created and ordered the world and watches over life on earth. Belief 2. God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.

Belief 3. The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself. Belief number 4. God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when God is needed to resolve a problem. And the fifth belief of moral therapeutic deism is this. Good people go to heaven when they die. Now you can tell from this list how the name of this religious view came about. Moral, God is mostly concerned with our good behavior and that good behavior is a ticket to heaven. Therapeutic, the goal of life is to be happy and feel good. And deism, God is out there but isn't concerned or involved in our lives in any meaningful way.

Now, this remains one of the most pervasive religious belief systems today, meshing with the values and priorities of our cultural moment, with a little bit of Bible sprinkled in there. And it's also one that's accidentally held by people who claim to be Christians. For even the most earnest followers of Jesus, moral therapeutic deism can spread into our lives without intention right under our noses. So why are we talking about moral therapeutic deism at the start? of this new year. Because when we examine Psalm 5, we see that a biblical faith rooted in the

Word of God couldn't be more different. Psalm 5 offers us a deeper and richer faith that runs against the tide of our cultural moment. And it turns out to be the kind of faith that actually makes a difference in our lives. So let's dive into Psalm 5. Psalm 5 is a Psalm of David. There's no specific context for exactly what was happening in his life when it was originally recorded, yet it's clear that David's life is not as it should be. We see this in the first three verses. So starting with verse one, listen to my words, Lord, consider my groaning. Pay attention to the sound of my cry, my king and my God, for I pray to you. In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice. In the morning, I plead my case to you and watch expectantly.

Now, David's words shake up our tendency to live with an exclusively horizontal view of reality. He's drawing our attention to the infinite and personal God, the Creator and the Redeemer. Notice that David doesn't just believe that God exists out there. He believes in a God that we can cry out to. Listen to my words, Lord. Pay attention. You hear my voice. Let's pause here and just ask the simple question.

When's the last time you talk to God like this? Do you believe that he hears your voice? If you live like this was true, how might it change your prayer life? We need someone who hears our voice, especially when we cry out in the midst of pain like David. There are so many occasions that warrant crying out to God like this. Our own sin, our seasons of spiritual dryness when God feels distant, and many different kinds of suffering. Yet David is crying out for a particular reason in this Psalm. He's being impacted by the sin.

of other people. We see this dynamic at play as Psalm 5 continues, picking up in verse 4. For you are not a God who delights in wickedness. Evil cannot dwell with you. The boastful cannot stand in your sight. You hate all evildoers. You destroy those who tell lies. The Lord abhors violent and treacherous people. The same theme picks up later in verses 9 and 10. So we'll go there now. For there's nothing reliable in what they say. Destroy. Destruction is within them. Their throat is an open grave. They flatter with their tongues. Make them bear their guilt, God. Let them fall by their own schemes. Drive them out because of their many crimes, for they rebel against you. These verses portray the ultimate, good, justice of God. The God of the Bible is

not ambivalent about our sin. He does not delight in wickedness, and he is against the boastful and the evildoers. Now, on one hand, this is a relief to us because it tells us that God is not the uninterested, distant deity of moral therapeutic deism. Our holy, set apart God is not indifferent to the choices we make that cause pain and injustice. He responds to them with justice and righteousness. And while it's empowering and comforting to recognize that God is not ambivalent towards sin and injustice, these verses also cut into the visible and hidden areas of my life that so often want to justify or become comfortable with sin. Verse 9 indicates that this kind of sinful destruction isn't just in the exterior of behavior.

It's something within. So when I read this portion of Psalm 5, the goal isn't simply for me to be. to look at the sin in other people's lives, but to examine the sin in my own life. Said differently, if these words in Psalm 5 don't push me to confession of sin and cause me to run to the cross of Jesus, then I'm probably embracing a version of Christianity that's more like moral therapeutic deism than true biblical Christianity. Now, sitting in the middle point of Psalm 5 is the climactic moment, the foundational truth that gives us hope. Let's look at verses 7 and 8. But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,

will enter your house. I will bow down toward your holy temple and the fear of you, the reverent awe of you. Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness, because of my enemies. Make your way straight before me. Notice how the abundant, steadfast love of God is the hope that we can cling to amidst the injustice and sin that pervades our world and our lives. That phrase steadfast, love, the Hebrew word there is Hesed, it's going to come up a lot in the Psalms. It's a term of covenant, loyalty, and faithfulness, a kind of love that creates and sustains a powerful relationship. This steadfast love of God leads David into the presence of God, causing him to respond with awe. And that love, and that awe doesn't just remain in David, it actually moves David.

After recognizing and receiving the steadfast love of God, David asks that God, God, would lead him in the righteousness of the Lord. This steadfast love in Psalm 5 is not a kind of one-way transaction where we receive love and do whatever we want afterward, as if God's ultimate goal is for us to be happy and do whatever we want. This steadfast love leads us. Over time, it makes us the kind of people who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Not overnight, perfectly, but one day at a time, God's love transforms us.

as we love him and others with every part of our lives. Are you stagnant in the way that you view God's love like it's a one-way transaction? Let David's words here serve as an invitation to let the love of God lead you in the way of his kingdom. Being led by God's love and justice isn't a smooth, easy road. It's what Jesus described as the narrow gate

that leads to life in Matthew 7. As Psalm 5 kind of faith, a faith in the crucible of reality, it's not easy. It's not comfortable. And that's why we need the end of Psalm 5. But let all who take refuge in you rejoice. Let them shout for joy forever. May you shelter them and may those who love your name boast about you. For you, Lord, bless the righteous one. You surround him with favor like a shield. So acknowledging that the journey of true faith is not easy, David appeals to the enduring truth that God is a refuge, a shelter, a shield. This isn't a promise for things to go smoothly for nice and tidy outcomes as we follow Jesus. This is a promise of presence. Psalm 5 assumes that a faith

in the living God will lead to storms and danger. It is not safe, but there is a shelter, God himself. How do you grapple with this presentation of God? Maybe for you, God, God, remains an idea, a distant impersonal force that receives weekly attention at best, but he's never been your refuge. What would it look like for you to not just think thoughts about God, but to call out to him, to receive his steadfast love in Jesus, and be led by him as his presence carries you? Like every other part of the Bible, Psalm 5 offers us a far more real and far more needed faith than the moral therapeutic deism that pervades our culture. If we just take what we learn from Psalm 5, we could counter moral therapeutic deism with this definition of biblical faith. Love empowered

transformation with the infinite and personal God. As you consider how you want to be encountered by God's grace and love over the course of this new year, Psalm 5 invites you into a bigger living faith and the God who sees you, who is with you, and wants to grow in a relationship with you. His steadfast love is there for you in Jesus. The question is, will you let His love lead you?