Psalm 5: Before I Speak to Anyone, I Speak to You

Maybe you want God to hear from you first this morning, before the phone, the news or anyone else. David prayed that way in Psalm five, and we can pray it with him. If you've already seen the headlines or checked your messages, you haven't missed anything. Let's bring this to God together.

In Psalm five, verses one through three, David says this to God.

Give ear to my words, O Lord; consider my groaning. Attend to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to You I pray. In the morning, O Lord, You hear my voice; at daybreak I lay my plea before You and wait in expectation.

Psalm 5:1-3

This isn't a calm psalm. As it goes on, David talks about people who lie and mean him harm, and he asks God to lead him. Look at where he starts, though. Before he says a word about any of that, he turns to God.

He asks God to hear his words, and then his groaning. Some mornings we don't have good words, and David seems to know that. A groan, said to his King and his God, is still a prayer.

Then David does two things. He lays out his plea, setting the matter before God piece by piece. And then he waits in expectation, like someone keeping watch. He doesn't say what he expects to see. He's watching for God.

Many of us start the day somewhere else. The kettle's on, the radio's going, and the headlines are already telling us what to worry about. Or there's a red number on the email icon, and the group chat has been busy all night. None of that's wrong, and some of it we need. But whatever speaks first tends to set the tone, and it's easy to give it the whole morning before we've said a word to God.

If that's already happened today, you haven't lost your chance. God isn't keeping a clock. Listen to how David says he comes into God's presence.

I will enter Your house by the abundance of Your loving devotion; in reverence I will bow down toward Your holy temple.

Psalm 5:7

David comes in on God's loving devotion. That's God's steady, faithful love for His people, and David says there's an abundance of it. It's good news for any morning when you haven't prayed well in a week.

The writer of Hebrews goes further. He's just said that Jesus opened a way for us through His own body. Then he writes this.

since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience

Hebrews 10:21-22

We have a great priest, and He's Jesus. He has dealt with what would keep us out, even a guilty conscience. So the first minutes of your day don't have to be impressive. You come the way David came, on God's love, and Jesus has made the way.

Near the end of the psalm, David looks past himself.

let all who take refuge in You rejoice; let them ever shout for joy.

Psalm 5:11

David is asking God to shelter everyone who runs to Him. He doesn't promise an easy day. But you're not praying alone this morning.

Let's pray. You can pray these words with me, out loud or in your heart.

Father, it's early, and before anything else gets my attention, I want to talk with You. I come through Jesus, my great priest. He died for my sins and rose again, and in Him I'm welcome here, however I've prayed this week. Let Your Spirit help me.

You're my King and my God. You hear my voice in the morning, as You heard David's. You listen to words, and You listen to groaning. You're never too busy for me, and You never sleep. The abundance of Your loving devotion was there before I woke up, and it doesn't run low.

The truth is, I don't always come to You first. Some mornings the news is on before I've said a word to You. I check what's waiting for me and let it decide how the day will feel. If I'm honest, I go to it because it makes me feel on top of things. Other mornings I do pray, but I rush it, with half my mind already at work. And some days I only have a groan, and I wonder if that counts. David watched for You. I've mostly watched the clock. Forgive me, Father. Jesus has cleansed my conscience, so I draw near with “a sincere heart in full assurance of faith”. I've got nothing to prove to You this morning.

Teach me to begin here. When I wake, turn my first thoughts toward You, before the screen and before the noise. Give me words when I have them. When I don't, hear my groaning anyway, and answer my cry, my King and my God. Make me glad to come, and let this become the place I run to when the day gets heavy.

Today is laid out in front of me. There's the work, the people I'll see, the things I'm dreading and the things I'm hoping for. I set them all before You, the way David did. “at daybreak I lay my plea before You and wait in expectation.” So I'm watching for You. I don't know how today will go, and I'm not asking You to show me how it ends. Let me see You in it, whatever comes.

I come into Your presence the way David did, by “the abundance of Your loving devotion”. In reverence, I bow before You. The plans I've made and the worry I've carried here, I put them down. The meeting that has my stomach tight, I put that down too. All of it's Yours to hold, and so am I.

I pray for others. For anyone who woke up to bad news and hasn't had a moment to pray. For the bus driver on the early route, and the baker who's been up since three. For the people I'll talk to today, and whatever they're carrying that I can't see. And for everyone who takes refuge in You this morning, I pray what David prayed. “May You shelter them, that those who love Your name may rejoice in You.”

Now I'm heading into the day. When the headlines come, and they will, let me hear them after I've heard You. When the messages stack up, help me answer them one at a time, and don't let them rule me. When I forget You by ten o'clock, call me back, and I'll come. Be with me at the kitchen counter and at my desk, and on the road. Tomorrow morning I'll come again, and I'll lay it out before You, and I'll keep watching.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Take a moment of quiet now, and bring Him whatever's in front of you today.

Hear this blessing from Psalm one thirty-four.

May the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion.

Psalm 134:3