Today, Sunday October 09
The Time and Place of Prayer
Psalm 5:1-3
Give ear to my words, O LORD, Consider my meditation. Give heed to the voice of my cry, My King and my God, For to You I will pray. My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up.
Yesterday we finished our blog with the statement that the greatest danger we all face each day is to think that we will not face any danger! If you remember, we were talking about making preparations for the conflict. Today we want to discuss the time and place that prayer must have in our lives. If there is one thing that we should glean from the Psalms and especially from the life of David, is the truth that prayer played a very important role in his walk and dependence upon God.
Besides the Word of God, I’m convinced that prayer is one of the greatest and most effective weapons that we have in our daily battle with temptations, and with our enemy the devil. The Apostle Peter definitely knew the importance that prayer was to his preparation for spiritual warfare. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus had told him, along with James and John, to “watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matthew 26:41). But instead of praying, the three kept going to sleep and when the hour of temptation came, they all failed as they forsook Jesus and fled.
Peter must have learned his lesson because later he would write in 1 Peter 5:6-9: “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.”
Compare these words to the first words of David’s prayer here in Psalm 5. David was in grave danger and distress and yet he woke up with his mind and heart set on the Lord and preparing for the greatest challenge in his life with prayer. He immediately begins praying and asking the Lord to hear his voice and to consider his meditation. David could have easily been distracted by the circumstances surrounding him. Notice he didn’t just think prayers, but he spoke with his voice out loud to the Lord.
David was open with the Lord and admitted his inward pain ("meditation" can be translated "groaning") and his prayer was a cry for help. David was King of Israel, but he saw the Lord alone as his King (Ex. 15:18). David was a man with a broken heart, but he knew that the Lord understood his sighs and groanings (see Rom. 8:26). We may come to God's gracious throne with "freedom of speech" ("boldly" in Heb. 4:16, and see 10:19, 35) because the Father knows our hearts and our needs and welcomes us.
Like our Lord Jesus Christ (Mark 1:35), David kept this appointment "morning by morning" and allowed nothing to interfere. No doubt, David as a young shepherd boy, must have begun this discipline of seeking the Lord’s face and presence in the mornings and continued to do it throughout his years. And now as he faces this challenge and battle with his own son, he simply does what he has always done! He seeks the Lord and begins his day with prayer.
Many of his Psalms reflect this time of prayer and praise throughout his life as he prepares daily for the battles he faced: “As for me, I will call upon God, And the LORD shall save me. Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, And He shall hear my voice” (Psalm 55:16-17). “But I will sing of Your power; Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning; For You have been my defense And refuge in the day of my trouble” (Psalm 59:16). “But to You I have cried out, O LORD, And in the morning my prayer comes before You” (Psalm 88:13). “It is good to give thanks to the LORD, And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, And Your faithfulness every night” (Psalm 92:1-2).
May the Lord help us to make the mornings a time of prayer and meditation in our lives.
God bless!
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