You hear my voice
Psalms 5:3 - Most of us tend to fall into the trap of praying as if we are leaving a voicemail for God and not expecting to get a reply.
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“In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.”
Psalms 5:3 NIV
Today we head back to the Psalms. Just a reminder to our newer readers; if you view Heaven On Wheels on the website (https://heavenonwheels.org) there are now two new menu items. One of them takes you to all posts about Psalms, the other lists all Proverbs we’ve studied.
This psalm is a morning prayer of David to the Lord. We know from the other psalms that David had many adversaries, so he relied on the Lord first thing in the morning to give him the joy and the strength that he needed to survive the rest of the day. What a great time to honor God! It sets the tone for the day and prepares one to live another day fully dedicated to God.
Mark 1:35 refers to Jesus praying in the early hours of the day:
“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”
I personally found this gem from Charles Spurgeon (found on a David Guzik commentary on Blue Letter Bible) to be very persuasive in suggesting morning as a time to pray:
“This is the fittest time for [connecting] with God. An hour in the morning is worth two in the evening. While the dew is on the grass, let grace drop upon the soul.”
After setting a good time to pray and showing his faith that God hears his voice, David tells us what to do during and after prayer. While praying, David laid his requests before God. Many translations of the Bible use the word “direct” (Hebrew עָרַךְ or ʿāraḵ, also meaning “set in order” or “arrange”) rather than “lay my requests”, and this is a perfect example of why it’s helpful to look at multiple Bible translations to get the true meaning of words and verses.
Spurgeon used the Hebrew word עָרַךְ in this bit of commentary:
“It is the word that is used for the laying in order of the wood and pieces of the victim upon the altar, and it is used also for the putting of the shewbread upon the table. It means just this: ‘I will arrange my prayer before thee,’ I will lay it out upon the altar in the morning, just as the priest lays out the morning sacrifice.”
In other words, put some thought and order into your petition to God! F.B. Meyer, in the same Blue Letter Bible commentary, said this:
“It is manifestly a mistake to pray at haphazard. There is too much random praying with us all. We do not return again and again to the same petition, pressing it home with all humility and reverence, and arguing the case, as Abraham did his for the cities of the plain.”
David is instructing those who listened to this psalm to really consider what it is they are praying for. After the prayer? We are to “wait expectantly”. This means that we show our faith and trust in God’s response, that we believe that God will provide at the proper time. It also shows two other Christian traits that we should all seek to actively cultivate — hope, and confidence in God’s promises.
Most of us tend to fall into the trap of praying as if we are leaving a voicemail for God and not expecting to get a reply. David had the wisdom to keep the metaphorical line open, because he had complete faith that God was going to fulfill his prayers.
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Today’s prayer comes from Knowing Jesus:
Heavenly Father, thank You for Your mercies which are new every morning. Help me to be regular, systematic, orderly, and faithful in my prayer-life. May I come into Your presence with joyful expectation, knowing that You are a God Who hears and answers prayers in Your own way and in Your own time. This I ask in Jesus' name, AMEN.