I say this prayer to you Lord,
for at daybreak you listen for my voice;
and at dawn I hold myself in readiness for you—
I watch. For you. Psalm 5:3
When I pray, I usually find myself listening to me. And it often doesn’t seem as though anyone else is listening. But (thank God) David knew better: day breaks, the LORD tunes in. My servant rises. Let’s hear what he has to say.
Hard as it is to believe, God is actually listening for me. This Psalm gobsmacked me when I first heard what it was saying.
God doesn’t need to arise, of course, because he’s always up. Every hour is daybreak somewhere and every pray-er has a listener.
God does his part. My part is to hold myself in readiness (to “prepare the sacrifice and watch,” ESV). What helps with this and what doesn’t?
- Get up. Praying in bed is fine for the dark hours (Ps. 149.5), but not for the morning sacrifice. Again (poke, poke): bestir these stiff lazy bones and get up.
- Wash my face and hands. I have an important meeting to keep.
- Raise my voice (because he is listening). I feel self-conscious praying out loud, but I know lots of hymns. Sometimes I sing them.
- Present my body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to him. He owns it, after all.
- Listen. Then talk. Then listen some more. Then talk some more. Remember it’s a two-way conversation.
Learning how to pray is a lifelong quest, at least for me. After sixty-plus years, it’s sometimes discouraging: haven’t I got a handle on this yet? Then a Psalm comes along and cheerfully rings a bell: hey, you! Don’t you know he’s listening? He’s waiting to hear your voice—open up!
Can it really be that simple?