Psalm Sunday – A Prayer Medley

Hear my cry for help,
    my King and my God,
    for to you I pray.
 
In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;
    in the morning I lay my requests before you
    and wait expectantly.

— Psalm 5: 2-3

David, the psalm writer, knows about needing help. Invited into King Saul’s service as a boy, it isn’t long before the king becomes jealous of David. God and David already have a close relationship. David has a simple, child-like faith. God looks on that faith and honors it by blessing what David does. David the child defending the army of Israel with a sling was an example of that relationship.

Because David relies on God, God blesses David. Because God blesses David, the people of Israel honor David. Because Saul has lost God’s blessing (see 1 Samuel 13) Saul is jealous of David. Jealously leads to strife and strife leads to Saul trying repeatedly to kill David. During all this time David remains faithful to Saul and respects God’s anointing.

Many times when Saul was hunting David, David feared for his life. Later, as king of Israel, he feared for his people. Even kings need help.

Through all this David remembers who he is. He might be an earthly king, but God alone is King of kings. On this Sunday morning, King David teaches us how to pray. If we add in the Lord’s prayer we have a kind of prayer medley. We can see how closely David’s prayers track God’s heart:

Hear my cry for help, (Our Father who art in heaven…)
     my King and my God (Thy kingdom come… Hallowed be thy name…)
     for to you I pray (thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven)
    
In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice
    (Being first in our thoughts and our day honors God.*)
    In the morning I lay my requests before you
    
Give us this day our daily bread
     Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors
     Lead us not into temptation
     But deliver us from evil.
    
        … and wait expectantly.

Application: Offer God prayer first thing in the morning as the firstfruits* of your day. Right before you visit ThreeMinuteBible.com for the day! 🙂

Food for Thought: If we don’t start our day with God each morning, what does that say about where our heart and our mind is?

*See ”Salt and Pepper”