Today's Scripture: Psalm 55:16-23
"Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice."
In today's passage, the psalmist presents a prayer principle in the midst of a testimony of both God and prayer itself.
There are three ways we can utilize this principle of enduring prayer.
The first is quite literal. Set aside time in the morning, at lunch, and in the evening for prayer. This way, you would be starting and ending the day in a time of prayer, as well as having a prayer time during lunch. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
The second is more figurative. Morning, noon, and evening pretty much span the day. With this model, think of it as an ongoing time of prayer throughout the day. When you have free moments in the day, let your heart, mind, and thoughts turn to God in prayer. These could be moments of either adoration, confession, thanksgiving, or supplication. Or when you face a gnarly problem at work, spend a moment in prayer asking God's guidance. There are any number of ways you can spend the day in prayer.
And the third model is a combination. Everybody loves a good combo, right? You know, where the marketers have you convinced you're getting more for your money? This one's a good combo, though. With this model, you simply combine the literal morning, noon, and evening times with the throughout the day approach of the figurative. The result is some dedicated and focused prayer times combined with an ongoing prayer throughout the day.
So whether you have a dedicated time or times of prayer in the day, or pray throughout the day, or both, the point is that you pray. That's when you talk with God. It's when you turn your burdens over to him, and when you hear from him.
Think about it …
- Another translation says "I will complain and murmur" instead of "cry aloud." Have you ever complained and murmured to God?
- Does God hear us even when we complain and murmur?
