Watching Prayer's Results

In the morning, O Lord, Thou wilt hear my voice

In the morning, I will order my prayer to Thee and eagerly watch.

Psalm 5:3 

I really struggle with prayer. I have been pondering Psalm 5. First off, David is in a struggle. He cries for help. And then I look up at the Psalm superscript and it is a to the choir director to flute accompaniment. Isn't a flute kind of a happy instrument? When I am in a struggle, I want to be by myself and give myself a real pity party.

The turning point is verse 3. It is a new morning, a resurrection morning. God does not expect nothing from me. When I pray, it is a hodgepodge of mess. My mind wanders and events weigh heavy on me. But even in my weakness, God takes my prayers, messy as they are and makes them right. Romans 8:26 - the Spirit helps our weaknesses; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.  God take my messy prayers and even makes them right on the way up. Even in my prayer, it is all dependent on God and nothing on me. Yet not my will but yours God is one of the hardest prayers we can make and one our Lord Jesus struggled with.

Why even pray then? Because we are not idle participants. We are active participants. I can't rationalize that. God is perfectly in control, yet He wants us to pray. Further, Psalm 5:3 says we should wait in eager anticipation for what He is going to do. I am a planner and want God to tell me what He is going to do in my life next week, next month, and next year. But He wants me to see what He is going to do DAILY and to do so expectantly. 

Finally, we must be in perfect trust that God knows what is best for us. I have a friend who wants to grow closer to God, but he is deeply afraid that God will harm him. As he says, he has a good life now and does not want to screw it up. Come on, what father would screw up his kids lives to draw attention to himself? God knows perfectly what is best for us. There are many times I have found myself playing on the freeway of life. It felt good at the time however. The traffic was fast and there was exhilaration.  But the car was going too fast and was bound to go out of control. God put a flat and car trouble in my life. The car was idled for my own good. But I want that car back sometimes. As a result, the things that matter are deepened, which almost always is relationships.