Psalms 5:11-12
But let all who take refuge in You be glad,
Let them ever sing for joy;
And may You shelter them,
That those who love Your name may exult in You.
For it is You who blesses the righteous man, O Lord,
You surround him with favor as with a shield.
Each Psalm carries so much about the character of God and the character of man. Psalm 5 is a great example of that divergence. In the opening line of this worship-prayer the writer expresses his groaning toward God and pleads with God to give "ear" and to "consider" his "groaning." He comes to God because he lives in a society where the evilness of man comes out in their speech and they can't be trusted (Psalm 5:5-7). Their mouths are open windows to their hearts. As he prays and acknowledges both the ills of society and his own downfall we see him come to the fuller knowledge of God and who He is. In the above text he is no longer "groaning" but rather trusting. Whereas before his focus was on the ills of men he can now see the invisible "shelter" around him and all those who trust in Yahweh. God is there and we don't see Him. He surrounds us with His presence and His holy messengers like an invisible, but invincible curtain of care. He not only hears us (his plea in the opening line of the prayer), he bestows us with His holy "favor." Note Vine's comments on this important Hebrew word, "Ratson."
Ratson represents a concrete reaction of the superior to an inferior. When used of God, ratson may represent that which is shown in His blessings: “And for the precious things of the earth and fullness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush” (Deut. 33:16). Thus Isaiah speaks of the day, year, or time of divine “favor”-in other words, the day of the Lord when all the blessings of the covenant shall be heaped upon God’s people (Isa. 49:8; 58:5; 61:2). In wisdom literature, this word is used in the sense of “what men can bestow”: “He that diligently seeketh good procureth favor: but he that seeketh mischief, it shall come unto him” (Prov. 11:27). In Prov. 14:35, ratson refers to what a king can or will do for someone he likes.
God is there. He sees our pain and those who are ill against us. God surrounds us with His holy protection, not passively, but aggressively. We need to worship Him in the same way as the writer. We need to allow our groaning to be turned to gratitude for WHO God is and WHAT He does in care for us. Rejoice by focusing on Him rather than reel in the pain of the wicked.
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