Mensa Otabil - Directing Our Prayers

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We are in Psalm 5, and we are learning about prayer from a prayer of David. The Psalms were central to the Old Testament people and even to the early church; they were very important to their prayer and worship life. The words we are studying are very important.

So, Psalm number five, and we are looking at verse number three:"My voice you shall hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning I will direct it to you, and I will look up».

When you’re reading the Scriptures, it’s important to pay attention to certain events that happen in a verse. When I say «events,» I mean the way a word or words are used; this is very important. One of the first things you should notice when you read a verse like this is repetition. The word «morning» is repeated twice. David says, «You shall hear my voice in the morning; in the morning I’ll direct it to you.»

Why does he say that? Why does he use «morning» twice? In those days, there were no capital letters or exclamation marks, so when you wanted to emphasize something, you repeated the words. Here, the emphasis is on morning, and it is believed this was a psalm sung in the morning or part of the morning sacrifice or morning worship. David is talking about approaching God very early in the morning, but it also means that this attitude of prayer was a priority in David’s life-something he did very early in the morning.

Something I want you also to notice is what he says: «In the morning I’ll direct it to you.» In the morning, I will direct my prayer to you. He says he will direct his prayer to the Lord. Now, when you read it ordinarily, it would seem as if David means he will address his prayer to you, and that’s one way of understanding it. However, that word «direct» has a deeper meaning; it means to set something in order or arrange something. It was a word that was used for how the altar was arranged before a sacrifice was made, or how they would put the bread on the showbread table in the holy place every morning.

So when David says, «I’ll direct my prayer to you,» he’s not just saying you will be the focus of my prayer; he also means, «I will arrange my prayer. I will set it in order. I’ll put my prayer in the right sequence and the right order before you.» Thus, prayer must be prayed with a certain sense of order and a certain sense of sequence. We don’t just say whatever we want to say, but there has to be a certain order with which we pray.

For us as Christians, of course, we don’t go to the temple to erect altars or to put bread on the table. When we pray, as they did in the Old Testament, we pray differently because of what Christ has given us. There are three things I want to share that can help you arrange your prayer well when you’re praying in the morning or in the evening. First, we must pray according to God’s word. Prayer, although it’s our word, should be our word in agreement with God’s word. The foundation of our prayer is what God has said, what God has promised.

So, God’s word is God’s voice speaking to us, and prayer must be arranged in accordance with God’s word.Secondly, we must pray with trust in God’s faithfulness. When we’re praying, we’re not talking to the air; we’re not just mouthing words. We are speaking to a faithful God. One other way to arrange your prayer is to come with faith in God, knowing that He is faithful. You may not have all the faith in the world, but God has all the faith in the universe; He’s faithful, and our faith is not in ourselves; our faith is in Him. We count Him faithful who has promised us.

So, we arrange our prayer by praying according to God’s word, praying with trust in God’s faithfulness, and thirdly, praying with authority in the name of Jesus. The name of Jesus is our key that gives us access to the presence of God. As they did in the Old Testament and arranged their prayers with the altar, in the New Testament, this is how we arrange our prayers: we pray according to God’s word, we pray because we trust in God’s faithfulness, and we pray invoking the name of Jesus, which gives us access to the presence of God.

I hope that you’ll be able to arrange your prayer well as you come before the Lord today. Let us pray. Say with me: «Heavenly Father, You are faithful in all Your ways. I come before You fully confident that You hear me. In Jesus' name, Amen and Amen.» Well, I’ll catch you again tomorrow morning. I am Pastor Mensa Otabil. Shalom, peace, and life to you.