What is on your mind first thing in the morning? For David it seems to be prayer (v 3).  It reveals much about his relationship with God. He is keenly aware of the greatness of the God he approaches and that he enters his presence only through mercy (see v 7 for ‘reverence’ and ‘mercy’). Starting the day with ‘Our Father, who is in heaven’ acknowledges exactly the same two truths. Mercy opens up a level of relationship filled with expectation. He trusts that he will be heard and answered in due time. The psalmist’s posture is quite unlike the arrogant stance of the wicked (vs 4,5). 

It is God’s character that moulds our prayers. We meet a holy God who hates evil (v 5). We are called to the same antipathy to evil, to be perfect like our Father (Matthew 5:48). He is righteous and we long to walk that same path (v 8). We may struggle to express ourselves quite like David in talking about evil and its agents. That may reflect our sometimes-complacent acceptance of a world gone awry. For David, every evil act is rebellion against God (v 10). So, he rages against it and calls for its overthrow. He also prays for God’s people, that their protection and peace would witness to their Lord (v 11).

‘O Lord … who hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day: defend us in the same with thy mighty power … through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.’¹

Directions for this psalm include background music by pipes. What a great way to start the day, praying to the accompaniment of soft worshipful music played on flutes or suchlike. It may have seemed counter-intuitive for David to do this at a time when his life was under threat and his enemies were spreading malicious lies about him, but drawing near to God in the morning was his secret weapon. I find it hard, when the to-do list is long and I have spent the night worrying about the coming day, to rise and be still in prayer. David’s practice of laying his requests before God and then waiting expectantly before him, is a real challenge. What was he waiting for? He clearly expected an answer. Do we?

The concept of waiting before God in quiet expectation is not unique to this psalm. It occurs again in the songs of ascent, where busy pilgrims pause on their journey to fulfil their morning watch before the Lord, despite a deep sense of unworthiness.² The prophet Habakkuk pictures himself doing so even when on guard duty, facing the threat of possible enemy attack.³

Prayer should never be a duty, but rather a rendezvous with a lover. Like a spy using a dead drop in enemy territory, we can come into the secret place and lay our letter down, setting out the enemy’s disposition, and pick up a love letter from home. Perhaps we need to reintroduce an element of romance and intimacy into our times of prayer. We need to hear the call of the lover through the lattice once again and respond to the invitation, ‘Arise … my beautiful one, come with me’.⁴

‘Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty! Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee.’⁵ Bring your concerns to God now and lay them before him, waiting expectantly.

¹ Book of Common Prayer, Third Collect for Morning Prayer  ² Ps 130:5,6  ³ Hab 2:1  ⁴ Song 2:8–13  ⁵ Reginald Heber, 1783–1826