“Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord. Each morning I bring my requests to You and wait expectantly.” – Psalm 5:3 (NLT)
Given that the book of Psalms is comprised of a bunch of prayers and songs, we will probably spend a good amount of time talking about prayer and worship. For that reason, and the reason that these two topics are two of my favorite things to dive into and discuss. Prayer is conversation with God. It is the time when we get before Him and we present our requests to Him. More than that even, it is the time when we not only present what is on our hearts, but we also gain insight into what is on His heart through prayer, allowing us to go deeper into prayer. And worship is what sets our hearts and minds in the right place so we can approach Him with clarity and peace. It sets the entire focus on the Creator, the One True Living God.
So let’s talk about prayer. I love this verse that David wrote, because it gives us a clear picture of what praying with true faith looks like, which is how we should be praying as believers. We go before the Lord, giving Him our requests. And then we wait with expectation to see what the Lord does and how He does it. This is the life of prayer that EVERY believer is called to. As I said before, prayer is not for a select few, but it is for the entire body of Christ.
I added the line under “wait expectantly” because I wanted to draw emphasis to this phrase. In Strong’s Concordance, the Hebrew word for this is tsaphah (H6822), and it means, “to lean forward; to peer into the distance; to observe, await.” It is also the word used for Watchman.
Do you understand the implications of this meaning? Of this word? David isn’t just saying that he waits with an expectation of what the Lord is going to do in response to his prayers. What David is saying is that his expectation leads him to lean forward and watch for the Lord to accomplish what he has asked. There was no wondering “if” the Lord was going to do it, but David’s expectation was a matter of “when” and “how” the Lord would do it. Talk about a level of faith in the Lord that we don’t see many walking in today! And remember, this is happening under the context of the Old Testament. How much more should we, living in the freedom of the New Covenant, be walking in this kind of faith and expectation?
Another important aspect of this passage is the time of day in which David says he brings his requests to the Lord. He says “each morning.” Everyday, before he goes about his day. This is how David would start the day before going about whatever business required his attention. He would start by turning his attention and his gaze directly to the Lord, and then he would go about his day watching to see how the Lord would move in his life that day. Imagine how much better our days would be, how much stress we would shed from our lives, if we made this a daily rhythm? This is the importance of prayer.
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