Psalm 5:3

Let’s be clear that God loves to hear from us at any time. Morning, noon or night he loves to hear our prayers. But there is something very important about us coming to God in the morning when the day is still new. It’s a fresh page and so far we have done nothing to mess it up! It may well be that you find it better to have a quiet reflective time with God later in the day and that’s fine. But I urge you not to miss the opportunity to start the day with the Lord, even if it is very brief. What could be better than for us to thank him for the gift of a new day and to ask him to strengthen and lead us through it?

Whatever is happening in the day ahead there are bound to be requests that we want to make. We want God to bless our activities and the people we will meet. I was talking with a friend only a few days ago who showed me a well-thumbed notebook in which he had written the names of people he had prayed for over the last few years. Against most of the names was a tick which he sensed that the Lord had answered his prayer. It was a blessing to see the serious way in which he had recorded his requests to God and maybe you do, or could do, something similar.

What particularly struck me about this verse was that King David said that he brought his requests to God expectantly. He was so confident of God that when he prayed he was sure that God would act. Like so many of David’s psalms he was facing huge problems. His enemies were out to destroy him. He commented that their talk was foul, “like the stench from an open grave” and yet their words were filled with flattery (Psalm 5:9). That must have been so tough for David but, as he headed into a new day, he knew that his God could be trusted, and so he was able to bring his prayers to God expectantly. However big the challenges you face today I hope you will come to God with a similar confidence.

QUESTION

In what way do you start the day with God?

PRAYER

Lord God, I thank you that you are ready to speak with me at any time. Thank you for your constant love. Help me to come to you with a growing level of expectancy. Amen