“From now on, Mark, approach prayer with an expectation and faith, KNOWING without doubt that your God, the Most High God, cares about what is on your heart and that He is listening to everything you say … and even what you don’t say.” [ Excerpt from “A Reason to Pray at Mountainview”]

Once Mark Terrell learned that he was off the hook to appease the Father by his own goodness, he was able to view prayer in a new light. Prayer went from a burden and a proverbial shot in the dark to a place of rest for his soul where grace and joy may be found.

Mark’s mentor walked him through Psalm 5 to unfold a wonderful picture of prayer and to teach him lessons on prayer. Let’s take our own walk through the first three verses of this Psalm and uncover some treasures from a man whom God said is “a man after My own heart, who will do all My will (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22).”

Psalm 5:1–2 (NKJV) — 1 Give ear to my words, O Lord, Consider my meditation. 2 Give heed to the voice of my cry, My King and my God, For to You I will pray.

We can see in these two verses that David expresses his heart to the Lord in three ways. David believed that God heard and accepted his prayers whether they were verbal, non-verbal, or emotional. Whatever the method or mode, David’s faith was confident and fixed towards God: “For to You I will pray.” All three are prayers to a God who hears and listens.

Next, notice that when David prayed he was specific in his view of the Lord. David didn’t pray to the “big guy in the sky” or to “a higher power.” David addresses the Lord in the first person pronoun, making his prayers personal and intentional. David refers to his Lord with specific titles: “My King and my God.”  Why do you think David had these two views of his Lord when he prayed? David’s view of the Lord in prayer has application for us. The Lord is our King, and as our king we surrender our lives and our hearts, which includes our wills, to live within His kingdom that we may serve Him and glorify His Name. We also call Him our God. The One who created the heavens and the earth and upholds all things by the power of His word … is our God. Prayer with the Lord is intended to be personal. In fact, the Lord Himself has made it personal. He has made us sons of the living God and has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” That makes it prayer, personal!

Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6; Hebrews 1:3

As His beloved, you are praying to the King of kings and the infinite, all-knowing, all-powerful, and omnipresent God. Who else would you want to or need to call upon for help, comfort, answers, and hope? Open the eyes of your faith and see the Lord as Nebuchadnezzar learned to see Him, howbeit he learned the hard way, as the King and God of heaven and earth.

Daniel 4:34–35 — And at the end of the time I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me; and “… I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever: For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom is from generation to generation. 35 All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven And among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand Or say to Him, “What have You done?”

Psalm 5:3 (NKJV) — 3 My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up.

Verse three paints …

the picture of how and where our hearts should be directed and focused when we are praying … and … after we pray. The first line of verse three shows that David had confidence that God heard his prayers. David knew it and confessed it. He banked on it. Yet David’s confession included more than a belief that his prayers reached God. The context tells us that David knew that His King’s heart was towards him and for him. Sadly, many Christians have a “passive” view of prayer. This comes from a belief that their God has a passive view towards them. It is obvious from this palms that King David did not have a passive view of God or of God having a passive view towards him. King David was confident in God and sought Him earnestly. We need to be fully persuaded that “The eyes of the Lord are upon us; and His ear is open to our cries.” With that view of God we will approach the Throne of Grace in confidence.

The second half of verse three …

describes how David acted on his view of God’s heart when he made his requests. We’ll consider several bible translations and then focus on one key word in the Hebrew language.

NKJV — “… In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up.”

ESV — “… in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.”

NASB 1995 — “… in the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch.

All three translations paint the same picture. There is one particular Hebrew word ( עָרַךְ ) that refers to how David made his requests to the Lord. It is a verb and is translated above as: “I will direct it“; “I prepare”; and “I will order.” Looking at the three translations together we can begin to see the meaning of this Hebrew word and its significance in David’s description of prayer. The Hebrew word means: “to arrange or set in order” and was used in reference to the requirements of levitical priests to carefully arrange or set in order the offerings that were to be presented to the Lord. The offerings and sacrifices were not casually put together, but purposefully and reverently prepared for the Lord. The priests also expected the Lord to receive the offerings because they were according to His will and good pleasure. David was familiar with the requirements of the offerings and sacrifices that the priests presented to the Lord, and he saw his prayers as holy offerings to be presented to His Lord with reverence and faith. David believed that his prayer were acceptable offerings unto the Lord.

In the New Testament we learn that all believers are priests before God and we’re told to offer up spiritual sacrifices to God. Could these include our prayers?

1 Peter 2:5 (NKJV) — 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Have you thought about how you present your prayers to God?

Are your requests thrown up haphazardly with little hope or with little reverence and little thought?

Would you describe the majority of your prayers as “drive-by praying”—a quick stop for spiritual fast food and then off on your way to do your own thing?

In the last part of verse three …

David says: “and I will look up.” This is a picture of David’s ongoing hope. Looking up was a way of saying that he looked for God to answer him. David expected God’s intervention. How about you? Do you have this hope that God has heard you and will answer you according to His good and perfect will and knowledge?

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