Psalm 5
1 Give ear to my words, O Lord; consider my groaning.
2 Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray.
3 O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.
4 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you.
5 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers.
6 You destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
7 But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house. I will bow down toward your holy temple in fear of you.
8 Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me.
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.
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.
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.
12 For you bless the righteous, O Lord; you cover him with favor as with a shield.
In Psalm 5, we see David approaching God feeling anxious, worried, fearful and isolated. These are common experiences Christians often face in a fallen world. How should we respond?
Instead of focusing on our fear or worry, we need to focus on God and pray. Take a minute or two to reflect on what happens to your relationship with God and your prayer life when you find yourself facing a difficult situation. For David, he approached God in prayer with the confidence Paul expressed in Ephesians 3:12, "in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him." This is evidenced by three markers that should be part of prayers.
The first is Urgency. The psalm immediately begins with a sense of urgency on the part of David. Notice in the first and second verses the words used by David: give ear, consider, and give attention. To give ear has a literal meaning of "broadening the ear" as with the hand. "Give attention" means to listen or "to incline the ear." Therefore, David is asking the Lord to perk up His ears to the things that David is about to say, if you will.
Prayer was important to David. It is so important for us to move our prayers from the optional to the urgent. How often do our prayers merely come from a sense of routine and not a sense of urgency. Yet it is this spirit of urgency that is needed in our prayers.
The second marker is Persistence. We see persistence in the prayer David is bringing to God. David prayed "in the morning." David was not praying only on one morning. He was praying every morning. In Luke 18:1 we are told that Jesus "told them this parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart." David shows us the example that we need to continue to ask of the Lord even when the answer is delayed. We must rely upon prayer, repeatedly asking for the Lord to answer.
The third and final marker is Expectation. The third verse ends with David saying that he will wait in expectation for an answer to his prayer. What David literally means is "to look out, to be on watch." We see the vision of David offering his prayer and then looking all around him for the answer. David is offering a prayer in faith and not in doubt. The Lord desires us to have the spirit of expectation when we approach the throne.
So how should we respond to the things we face in a fallen world?
By seeking God in prayer that reflects David's heart and faith.