Psalm 5:1-8
The Voice
Psalm 5
For the worship leader. A song of David accompanied by flutes.[a]
The various psalms reflect nearly every human emotion: unbridled joy, deep-seated jealousy, seething anger, hope, and depression. These are only a few of the emotions behind the poetry we hear expressed in individual psalms. Feelings and emotions are central to what it means to be human. We cannot escape them nor should we. Psalms invites us to take the emotions we feel and bring them before God. This book models how to come before God in times of sadness, brokenness, and joy. Psalm 5 is a cry for help and a plea for guidance by a person who suffered at the hands of an enemy. It talks about the morning as the time to pray and listen for God to answer. Like many laments, it begins with a cry but ends in confidence.
1 Bend Your ear to me and listen to my words, O Eternal One;
hear the deep cry of my heart.
2 Listen to my call for help,
my King, my True God;
to You alone I pray.
3 In the morning, O Eternal One, listen for my voice;
in the day’s first light, I will offer my prayer to You and watch expectantly for Your answer.
4 You’re not a God who smiles at sin;
You cannot abide with evil.
5 The proud wither in Your presence;
You hate all who pervert and destroy what is good.
6 You destroy those with lying lips;
the Eternal detests those who murder and deceive.
7 Yet I, by Your loving grace,
am welcomed into Your house;
I will turn my face toward Your holy place
and fall on my knees in reverence before You.
8 O Eternal One, lead me in the path of Your righteousness
amidst those who wish me harm;
make Your way clear to me.
Notas al pie
- 5:title Hebrew, nehiloth, meaning is uncertain. Only use of this word in the Old Testament.
1 Kings 20:23-34
The Voice
Ben-hadad’s Servants: 23 When we fought them in the mountains, they won because their gods are the mountain gods. But if we fight them on flat land, then we are sure to win. 24 Therefore evacuate the royal leaders, place all the civilian military leaders in place of the ineffectual royalty, 25 and assemble an army exactly like the one you lost. Replace every lost horse with a new horse and every lost chariot with a new chariot. We will battle on flat land, and we are sure to win because we will be stronger than they will be.
Ben-hadad listened to his servants and did everything they said to do, dismissing the royal leaders and rebuilding the army.
26 In the spring of the year, Ben-hadad assembled the Arameans and waged war against Israel at Aphek. 27 All the Israelites assembled and prepared and went out to meet the Arameans for battle. The camp of the Israelites looked like two tiny herds of goats compared to the Aramean army which filled the entire land. 28 A man of God approached Israel’s king.
Man of God: This is the Eternal’s message: “The Arameans have proclaimed that the Eternal is only a mountain god and not a god of the flat land; therefore I am going to give you a great victory over them. Then you will know that I am the Eternal One.”
Just as the prophets of Baal in Israel think that only their god controls the rain, the Arameans think that the Lord is only a god of the mountains. Among their pagan neighbors, where different gods control different things, it is unthinkable that there can be one God who controls everything, such as climate and land. It is exactly this misconception that God is aiming to debunk through Israel’s victories. He is the One; He controls all.
29 They camped out across from each other for seven days; and when the seventh day arrived, the battle began. The Israelites crushed 100,000 Aramean warriors in a single day. 30 All those who escaped ran into the city of Aphek. A great wall collapsed on them and killed 27,000 men. Ben-hadad escaped to the city and hid himself in a secret chamber.
Ben-hadad’s Servants: 31 The kings of Israel have a reputation for being merciful. Allow us to dress ourselves appropriately for surrender: We will put sackcloth around our waists and ropes around our heads; then we will go to meet Israel’s king and hopefully salvage your life.
32 The servants dressed accordingly. They put sackcloth around their waists and ropes around their heads; then they approached Israel’s king.
Ben-hadad’s Servants: This is a message from Ben-hadad who proclaims he is in your service: “I beg you to leave my life untouched.”
Ahab: Ben-hadad is not yet dead? I thought he had surely been killed. He is my brother.
33 The servants watched carefully and perceived this to be a sign, and they replied with surprise.
Ben-hadad’s Servants: Yes, that’s right. Your brother, Ben-hadad.
Ahab: Bring Ben-hadad to me.
Ben-hadad came out of the city to Israel’s king, and Ahab allowed him to come up into the royal chariot.
Ben-hadad (to Ahab): 34 I will return all the cities that my father took from your father. Lay your own streets in Damascus, so you may market your goods there, just like the ones my father laid in Samaria.
Ahab: Under this covenant, I will release you.
So Ahab and Ben-hadad entered into a covenant with one another; then Ahab released Ben-hadad.
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Romans 11:1-10
The Voice
11 Now I ask you, has God rejected His people? Absolutely not! I’m living proof that God is faithful. I am an Israelite, Abraham’s my father, and Benjamin’s my tribe. 2 God has not, and will not, abandon His covenant people; He always knew they would belong to Him. Don’t you remember the story of what happens when Elijah pleads with God to deal with Israel? The Scripture tells us his protest: 3 “Lord, they have murdered Your prophets, they have demolished Your altars, and I alone am left faithful to You; now they are seeking to kill me.”[a] 4 How does God answer his pleas for help? He says, “I have held back 7,000 men who are faithful to Me; none have bowed a knee to worship Baal.”[b] 5 The same thing is happening now. God has preserved a remnant, elected by grace. 6 Grace is central in God’s action here, and it has nothing to do with deeds prescribed by the law. If it did, grace would not be grace.
In every generation, God makes sure a few survive the onslaught of judgment. The prophets call these the “remnant.” Paul sees himself living in a critical moment as fewer and fewer Jews pledge obedience to Jesus. But the Anointed’s emissary finds comfort in realizing how God’s faithfulness is playing out in his day. If you ever think that you alone are faithful to God, that somehow God has forgotten His covenant promises, think again. He always has a remnant.
7 Now what does all this mean? Israel has chased an end it has never reached. Yet those chosen by God through grace have reached it while all others were made hard as stones. 8 The Scriptures continue to say it best:
God has confounded them so they are not able to think,
given them eyes that do not see, and ears that do not hear,
Down to this very day.[c]
9 David says it this way:
Let their table be turned into a snare and a trap,
an obstacle to peace and payback for their hostility.
10 Let their bright eyes become cloudy, darkened so they cannot see,
and bend their proud backs through it all.[d]
Notas al pie
- 11:3 1 Kings 19:10, 14
- 11:4 1 Kings 19:18. Baal is the name for a Canaanite god.
- 11:8 Deuteronomy 29:4; Isaiah 29:10
- 11:9–10 Psalm 69:22–23
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
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