Summary:
Is morning prayer something we do on a regular basis? From 2 psalms of David, we learn the content of and the attitude he has in his morning prayers.

Morning prayer is something some of us do on a regular basis. It’s a recommended thing in the Bible. For some of us it’s still not a daily routine. When we join the Spiritual Meeting, we know there will always be a morning prayer.

It’s a good practice and let’s continue it after the Spiritual Meeting.

This exhortation will talk about morning prayers. In particular, what David said in the psalm.

For the first psalm, we look at the content of David’s morning prayer; it is what he asks of himself throughout the day. The second psalm displays his attitude in the morning prayer.

Content of David’s morning prayer

Psa 5
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. 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. 4 For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, Nor shall evil dwell with You. 5 The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; You hate all workers of iniquity. 6 You shall destroy those who speak falsehood; The LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. 7 But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy; In fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple. 8 Lead me, O LORD, in Your righteousness because of my enemies; Make Your way straight before my face. 9 For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; Their inward part is destruction; Their throat is an open tomb; They flatter with their tongue. 10 Pronounce them guilty, O God! Let them fall by their own counsels; Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions, For they have rebelled against You. 11 But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; Let those also who love Your name Be joyful in You. 12 For You, O LORD, will bless the righteous; With favor You will surround him as with a shield.

v1-2
David seeks God giving ear to his words and considering his meditation in the morning.

v2 “my King and my God”
David calls out to his King!

It’s an important thing to acknowledge that our lives belong to God at the start of the day; that we submit our will to the King.

What’s the will of the King?

v4 “You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness”

v5-6, 9-10 says God will surely punish those who are wicked.

But those who fear the Lord, like David, seeks God.

v7-8
Unlike those who do wicked things, he seeks out God’s way and the way He will lead him. He thinks about worshipping God and going to His temple.

v11-12
He also talks about what the righteous people will receive from God. God will be a shield: He will surround and protect them. This is what it means to acknowledge God as King. Because He’s our King, we strive to do His will; what is right and not what’s wicked. We already subject our will to His.

Do we do this in our morning prayer? If we acknowledge God is our King and know what happens to the wicked and the reward those who seek God will get, then for the decisions we make (whether it’s leading many people in a company or just for ourselves), we will weigh them according to the will of God. We will choose wisely because that’s the right way.

It’s such a prayer that allows us to be settled and ready. Because if you don’t go prepared to school or work, and your mind is not prepared to subject yourself to the will of God, when a decision needs to be made, sometimes we choose the wrong way. It’s so easy to make such a decision on the spot because there’s so many factors to consider. This may cause us to omit the most important factor - God. It’s good to start off our minds and thoughts that God is our King early in the morning. We hence seek His will, do what’s right and steer clear from evil. Then what happens in the day will be handled more easily.

Attitude David had in his morning prayer

Psa 63:1
O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water.

The NIV and Chinese version translate ‘early’ to ‘earnestly’. Both words are related. If you’re earnest about something, the very first thing you’ll think about is the thing you seek. You’re earnest for that particular matter the moment you wake up. Earnestness and being early are hence connected ideas.

David would wake up early to pray. But this earliness wasn’t just about being early in the morning, but also that it’s the most important and first thing he would do - seeking God.

He says he will seek God early because his soul THIRSTS for him. This psalm is said to be ‘A Psalm of David when he was in the desert/wilderness of Judah. Physically he was in a dry and thirsty land. While he was experiencing physical thirst, what he needed to quench was spiritual thirst from God. This is the attitude David has in this prayer. He thirsts for God; only God can satisfy his thirst. His only thought was: I need God to satisfy me.

Sometimes, we may be thinking about a lot of things today. The first thing we consider is how COVID-19 has affected our lives so much. Some of us may have been hit directly (especially if we are in the service or airline industry). Some of us less direct, we still receive our monthly salary. If the first thing we think about in the morning is what problems we have, think about David’s situation. He was in the wilderness of Judah, likely when he was running away from king Saul or Absalom, more likely Saul. Saul was pursuing him because of jealousy; he had already attempted to kill David. David was fleeing for his life. He had fled to a desert area that’s already so hard to survive. He doesn’t only have to think about himself but also the men that ran away with him. He had to worry how to get water to sustain them; worry about who may betray him.

But David as a fugitive thought about the Lord early in the morning because only God could satisfy.

Whatever state we are in, is our very first thought to seek God? That only He can satisfy; that He is enough for us? That’s something for us to think about.

David’s attitude in prayer: I must seek God early because He’s the only one who can satisfy me. My soul THIRSTS for God. My flesh LONGS for God.

When we think about this expression of David in the New Testament, there’s another implication for us. This is all the more the right attitude when seeking the Holy Spirit.

Do we feel life is meaningless and that it’s a dry and thirsty land unless God gives us the Holy Spirit? We must realise that the world can never truly satisfy us. When Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman He said, ““If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” (John 4:10).

If you take anything in this world, you still won’t be satisfied. But water Jesus can give is water that will well up to eternal life. There won’t be a need to be satisfied anymore because we would have found the true source that satisfies forever.

John 7:37-39
On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

These are the words Jesus spoke regarding the Holy Spirit that He will give to those who believe.

“If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

Do we thirst for the Holy Spirit? So much so that everything in the world can’t satisfy us. So that the only thing that can quench the thirst we have is God and His Holy Spirit.

If we do this every morning, He will be found and grant us the Holy Spirit. Jesus shouted aloud, “He who thirsts, come to Me and drink.”

Yesterday’s evening prayer mentioned a testimony about how Jesus said, “Pray. I am here.”

Jesus is here. But do we thirst for Him? Do we thirst for Him like David thirsted for Him in a dry and thirsty land?

David was in suffering. Likely worse than we are now. But he put this aside because what he really needed at that time was the satisfaction of God. For us today, what we also need today is the satisfaction that comes from God. That He has the water that can quench our thirst our entire lives. But have we considered coming to Him early? Whether early in the morning, early in our lives, or earnestly coming before Him to seek Him.