“Psa. 5:1 ¶      Give ear to my words, O LORD;

                        consider my groaning.

Psa. 5:2           Give attention to the sound of my cry,

                        my King and my God,

                        for to you do I pray.

Psa. 5:3           O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice;

                        in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.

Psa. 5:4 ¶        For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;

                        evil may not dwell with you.

Psa. 5:5           The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;

                        you hate all evildoers.

Psa. 5:6           You destroy those who speak lies;

                        the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

Psa. 5:7 ¶        But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,

                        will enter your house.

             I will bow down toward your holy temple

                        in the fear of you.

Psa. 5:8           Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness

                        because of my enemies;

                        make your way straight before me.

Psa. 5:9 ¶        For there is no truth in their mouth;

                        their inmost self is destruction;

             their throat is an open grave;

                        they flatter with their tongue.

Psa. 5:10         Make them bear their guilt, O God;

                        let them fall by their own counsels;

             because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out,

                        for they have rebelled against you.

Psa. 5:11 ¶      But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;

                        let them ever sing for joy,

             and spread your protection over them,

                        that those who love your name may exult in you.

Psa. 5:12         For you bless the righteous, O LORD;

                        you cover him with favor as with a shield.” (English Standard Version)

“No One Is Righteous

“Rom. 3:9 ¶ What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,

Rom. 3:10 as it is written:

             “None is righteous, no, not one;

Rom. 3:11      no one understands;

                        no one seeks for God.

Rom. 3:12      All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;

                        no one does good,

                        not even one.”

Rom. 3:13      “Their throat is an open grave;

                        they use their tongues to deceive.”

             “The venom of asps is under their lips.”

Rom. 3:14      “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”

Rom. 3:15      “Their feet are swift to shed blood;

Rom. 3:16      in their paths are ruin and misery,

Rom. 3:17      and the way of peace they have not known.”

Rom. 3:18      “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Rom. 3:19 ¶ Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

Rom. 3:20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”

The psalmist seems to be saying that he is righteous and a candidate for God’s love, but some of the folks around him were thoroughly wicked. Paul, however, takes this same psalm—especially Psalm 5:9—and applies it to all humankind.

So, who is right, the psalmist or Paul?

I think that the answer is a resounding yes! Sometimes, those around us are indeed wicked. On the other hand, so are we all. When we make us-and-them distinctions, we are ignoring our own wickedness and adding more wickedness to our own wickedness by our distinctions. I am reminded of the saying, “There are only two kinds of people in the world: those who divide the world into two kinds of people, and those who don’t.” Ultimately, there is only one kind of person in the world: the sinner who is loved by God.