Psalm 5:3 My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.
Sometimes in life you just feel overwhelmed. You might call it sensory overload. There is too much to hear, too much to see, too much to think, and you are not even sure what you are feeling. Consequently, you can’t sleep at night because you are thinking about all that has gone on throughout the day. In the morning when you should be awake, you are tired. Well, there is a wonderful little trio of psalms that talks about the morning and the evening. These psalms are a great encouragement!
Psalm 3:5 says, “I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me.” What a wonderful reminder that we can rest in God, and therefore, we can rest. In Psalms 4:8, David again says, “I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD only makest me dwell in safety.” Then, Psalms 5:3 says, “My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.”
The context for one of these psalms is most likely when David was in the court of Saul and his life was in jeopardy. There were those who were against him and probably speaking ill of him to the king, who was already inclined against him. Later in life, very likely the context for Psalms 3, David’s son was rebelling against him nationally. In both cases, before he was king and after he was king, his life was in jeopardy, and even kings are not immune from the kind of sensory overload that you and I face. In fact, they would probably have more of it than we face.
What do you do when there is too much to think, feel, or hear? Some people look down. They wake up in the morning and it is hard for them to even square their eyes with the world because they are living in depression. They are looking down. Some people look out. Their whole life seems to be an emergency. “Look out!” is their watchword, and they live in fear. Some people look in. The world will promote this thinking, that the answer is found somewhere within. They are introspective, and this leads to binding not freedom.
So, David has a good word for us today. “My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.” David looked up. When he went to bed, he rested in the Lord. When he got up, he looked up to God. Why?
First, he looked up because God hears. In Psalms 5:1-2 David says, “Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation. Hearken… for unto thee will I pray.” So, God hears. David says, “Give ear to my words.” C.H. Spurgeon said that “the goal of prayer is the ear of God.” God didn’t just hear David, He listened to David. Sometimes David’s prayer was an audible prayer, and sometimes it was just a cry in his heart. So, look up because God hears.
Second, look up because God guides. Verse 8 says, “Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face.” He is saying, “I have hazards around me. Please guide me in a right way.” When we ask, God guides. Guidance is something for which I should ask. It doesn’t come automatically, but it is something that God is pleased to grant. When I say, “God, I don’t know what to do or where to go. Please guide me.” That is a prayer that is according to God’s will, and He will guide you.
Third, look up because God guards. Much of the context of these psalms are enemies, people who had it out for David. Such is the case in Psalms 5. David says, “For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness: their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue.” They were rotten inside and out, and they spoke evil about David to King Saul. Both Absalom and Saul were out for David’s life. I can’t imagine the fear of being threatened by Saul or the pain of being threatened by one’s own son. So, God guards.
David says, “But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice.” That is exactly what you can do today when you begin your day by looking up.