Jehovah, in the morning shalt thou hear my voice; in the morning will I address myself to thee, and will look up.
In Psalm 5 a godly man prays while evil people press in around him. Verse 3 gives that prayer a time, a shape and a direction: morning, ordered words, and eyes that keep watching.
The Morning as First Resort
Evil presses in around the psalmist. What stands out is not that he turned to God, but when.
Notice that these early psalms, like others, picture the godly under the pressure of evil all around them. They turn to the Lord because of it. This is not a last resort but their first thought: "In the morning You will hear my voice, O Lord; in the morning I will order my prayer to You, and will watch." (See the Revised Version.) The thought here is not so much the fact of directing the prayer to the Lord. It is the ordered, watchful state of soul that claims His ear and attention. Evil may be all around, but the soul is not occupied with evil. It is occupied with the Lord, and that produces holy fear.
Ordered Words
The psalmist does not just pray; he arranges his words. One writer ties that ordering to the God who hears them.
God is who He is, so the prayer of the one who asks must take account of His character. The words become "ordered" words, spoken as in His presence. There is earnestness, and expectancy of the mercy he asks for.
Translations differ over the second half. Some read "look up," others "watch." One writer takes it as watching, and sets it beside a prophet waiting on his tower for God's answer:
The Psalmist's words give the meaning, "In the morning I will direct my prayer to You, and will watch" (Ps. 5:3). So do the prophet's words: "I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint." (Hab. 2:1.) This watching comes from two things together: a sense of our own weakness, and a sense of His wise and holy guardianship and guidance.
Where the Eyes Go
Prayer here ends with eyes lifted up. A troubled person could look two other ways, and the order matters: he looks up only after he has prayed.
Someone has written somewhere, 'Look in — distress; look out — distraction; look up — delight'. The psalmist knew where to look. He did not look up until he had first looked to the One his heart desired, in absolute confident prayer. That prayer was the expression of complete, utter dependence on Him.
My King and My God
The psalmist calls God "my King and my God" as he prays. Each title says something different.
The psalm opens with an expression of the soul's daily dependence on God. The appeal to God as "my King" involves the government of God, just as "my God" suggests the character of God.
Another writer says who those titles point to:
David may not have understood the significance of all he wrote. Yet verse 2 shows that he is really addressing the Lord Jesus, who is both his King and his God. This same truth is often evident in the Psalms.
Evening Peace, Morning Trust
The same writer links this morning prayer to the night that came before it.
Verse 8 of the previous psalm spoke of David lying down to sleep in peace, confident of the Lord's safekeeping. Now in the morning (v. 3) he commits himself again to the Lord's preserving mercy. He looks up, above the level of the circumstances that surrounded him.
The Habit It Teaches
One writer turns the verse into a daily habit, and points to the example of Jesus.
It is a very good habit to have our hearts and thoughts occupied with the Lord and His Word from the moment we wake in the morning… You will always recognise a spiritual and fruitful believer. His lifestyle is an organised lifestyle. Many men of God in the Bible got up early in the morning to do what the Lord required of them. Of the Lord Jesus we read that He rose "very early in the morning, while it was still dark," to pray. This is indeed the secret of the victorious life — a life of prayer and study of the Word of God.
Summary
- Morning — prayer is the first thought under pressure, not the last resort.
- Ordered — he arranges his words as in God's presence, shaped by who God is, and expects the mercy he asks for.
- Watch — some read the second half "look up," some "watch." He stays at his post for the answer, like a prophet on his tower.
- Upward — looking in brings distress, looking out brings distraction. He looks up, and rises above his circumstances.
- Addressed — he prays to "my King and my God". His government and His character are both the ground of what he asks.