About Psalm 5:3
A. B. Barber
The discussion was going well. Then we got to verse 3. My NIV version says it this way:
“In the morning; O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation”.
We were discussing what it means to come before Him in prayer. Then, Rachel said, “My ESV version says it like this:
‘O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.’”
The lights started flickering in my mind. I could feel something was about to happen. “I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch”???
This verse in this version was not what I was comfortable with. I thought I had a handle on “laying my requests before Him in the mornings." The flickering in my brain became more intense and then came the power outage. It was like a white hot electrical charge went sparking through my brain and then shut it down. My fuses were blown. I’m pretty sure I sat there fried for the rest of the meeting, smoke probably coming off my head, with the verse burnt into my brain.
Back at home the next morning, my brain recharged, I was trying to understand what blew my mind: How can my prayers be a sacrifice? Likening prayer requests to sacrifices would flip my prayer life on its head. It would change everything. And why did this phrase, “preparing a sacrifice and watching” sound so familiar? It was something in Judges…
Yes, it was Gideon, and it was Samson’s parents…
The Angel of the LORD came down and spoke to Gideon, his response was, “Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.” Who does that? Who tells God, “Will you hang on a sec? “ Even more crazy was God’s response, “And the LORD said, “I will wait until you return.” (Judges 6:18) Gideon went and prepared a young goat and he made bread without yeast. He brought his sacrifice to the LORD and offered it to him. Then he watched. God touched the meat and bread with the tip of his staff and fire consumed it. And then it says Gideon was astonished because he realized he had seen the LORD!
Samson’s parents did a similar thing. The angel of the LORD appeared to them as well, and at a certain point in the story they too, ask the LORD to wait while they go prepare a sacrifice. And He waits. They prepare a goat and a grain offering. They bring it back and offer it on a rock to the LORD. Then it says in Judges 13:19-20, “And the LORD did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife watched: As the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame.” Manoah and his wife fell on their faces realizing they, too, had seen the LORD!
It’s the same pattern. Prepare a sacrifice and watch. But, I still puzzled over it, how do my prayers become a sacrifice like Psalm 5:3 says?
I thought about sacrifices. They are valuable. They take time and planning to prepare. When they are offered the one presenting them waits in anticipation - they watch.
I examined my prayers. Mine were, well, embarrassing in light of this. They weren’t offerings, or sacrifices that have been prepared. They were more like me rattling off a problem and how I think God could best fix it. Or looking at a problem and worrying out loud about it. I wasn’t looking up towards God in expectation of what He could do, instead I looked at the problem and talked in fear of it. My prayers often became meaningless babble before our Holy God. I realized that when I drifted into those kinds of “prayers” my heart was often just worrying and my countenance was figuratively downcast.
I was ashamed.
So, what to do?
I looked at Psalm 5:3 in just about every version I could find, and it really started to come together after I read it in the KJV:
“My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.”
I was challenged to change the way I pray. I could see in these verses a difference in attitude, deliberateness, and posture. Now, in the mornings during my time with Him, after I have spent time reading His word, I slow down, I take a deep breath and actually just stop. I spend time thinking about who or what I’m going to pray for, and how to say it. I prepare my prayer. And He waits! Then (because I’m just weird) I cup my hands into a “bowl”. I verbally lay my prayer request in it, carefully, with thought. Then I extend my hands forward and “empty the bowl” before Him. It helps prevent me from praying flippantly, from babbling, from worrying. Then I deliberately tilt my face upwards towards Him, to posture myself in such a way as to show Him I will wait and watch to see what He does. And I praise Him, because I know one day, like Gideon and Samson’s parents, I will be astonished at what He does with my prayer-sacrifice.
Little did I know that when we huddled around His word that evening in Beans ’N Cream, He huddled with us! He challenged us to be more aware of His holiness when we approach Him. And though He can overwhelm us, He will simultaneously sustain us to come closer. House Church, D-Groups, gathering together in His name - when we do that - when we seek Him together - He will show Himself to us! But beware! You might just get your fuses blown!