Psalm 5 reminds me that our prayer is interactive. We don’t just submit requests to God and wait for a receipt. Our prayer time is an act of worship, praise and faith-building. I remember a co-worker once telling me that I should not pray for the little things. All I could think was, “are there any BIG things for God?” I am convinced that God desires to not only hear our prayers, by He desires to answer our prayers. Our faith is expanded every time we see God answer a prayer. David begins, “Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my sighing“. God knows our heart and He know our requests before we even speak them. Romans 8:26 says it this way, “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express“. Many times I do not even have the words to express my joy or sadness or emotion in prayer, but the Holy Spirit interprets our utterance. The amazing result is, every answered prayer increases our faith. David continues, “Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to You I pray“. David’s relationship with God is very clear. There is an intimacy and a reverence. The thing that made David so unique was that he maintained that same understanding as a humble shepherd and as the king of the nation. In my life, everything changed when I understood Jesus was MY Lord and MY King. Romans 10:9 does not give us the option of being just part of a group. It explains we must individually confess our personal need for a Savior. “If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved“.
Notice David’s prayer time is carved out before the busyness of the day begins, “You hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before You and wait in expectation“. I would suggest that we only need enough faith to ask. It is clear that David understood that it is God that is trustworthy. Next David exalts God’s nature. “You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with You the wicked cannot dwell. The arrogant cannot stand in your presence“. And again, David understood God’s perfect balance of righteousness and mercy. “You destroy those who tell lies; bloodthirsty and deceitful men… by your great mercy, will come into your house“. It is impossible to be perfect, even David trusted in God’s righteousness, not his own. “Lead me, O Lord, in Your righteousness… make straight Your way before me“. There is a clear reliance on God doing the work. Are you are frustrated by your inability to “get right with God”? Forgiveness only comes by asking.
The psalm ends with David expressing to God his anger toward his enemies. “Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with destruction. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongue they speak deceit“. It is a relief to hear I am not the only one that sometimes roots for God to get the bad guys. David continues, “Declare them guilty, O God! Let their intrigues be their downfall. Banish them for their many sins, for they have rebelled against you“. It is comforting to know that our prayers are not perfect, but God’s will is. Thankfully, God has patience with our stubbornness. He concludes, “Let all who take refuge in You be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread Your protection over them, that those who love Your name may rejoice in You… surround them with Your favor as with a shield“. Prayer creates openness for God to work in us. In Ephesians 4, the apostle Paul prayed for you and me, “that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God“. Amen!