In the heading of Psalm 5, we are told that the author is none other than King David himself. In Psalm 4, he discussed his musing in bed suggesting that the prayer was in fact offered at night. Whereas the content of Psalm 5 explicitly tells us that it is David's prayer to God in the morning.
As we reflect over this Psalm, we cannot miss the fact that David's world was dotted with difficulties. He encountered suffering, dangers and disappointments much like what we all face in our world today. This Psalm is therefore very relevant to us. But like David, the worst ammunition are often the slanderous words hurled at us. Notice throughout this Psalm, he would use different malicious words hurled at him. They boasted, they lied and spoke falsely against him, their words were unreliable and were deadly condemning words which he described as throats of open grave.
Disregarding their negative words, David turned his first moment of the day to God asking for protection. He approached God with an agenda. He came with specificity. His approach to God was with an attitude of eagerness. He was not casual about it. This shows that he did not take God for granted. What about us? How do we approach each day? Do we even approach God at all? We need to know that the best person who can help us each day is certainly God Himself. Therefore, we must revere God and come to Him each day with renewed purpose and hope and trust.
The opening invocation of this prayer in the morning was directed to the Lord, the person who could make the difference in his life. He came to his God and King. One Who masters everything in life, Who's worthy of worship and allegiance, and Who sovereignty rules the affairs of the world. It is to this most Powerful Being that David came to implore. Thankfully, we know that this Lord, God and King, is none other than Jesus Whom we would gladly give our life.
David's approach to his whole negative experience is in itself so instructive. He did not resign to his predicament. Neither did he panicked. He just yielded to God and abandoned himself in total surrender and trusted God to undertake. While he prayed with words, he also prayed wordless prayer i.e. with deep sighs and groaning. He would ask God to come into his circumstances. And having placed his situation at God's feet, he then waited in anticipation for God to intervene.
The Psalmist leaves us with an example to start each day with the Lord in prayer. To surrender our day to God regardless of what we anticipate to encounter. Knowing we have come to our Lord, God and King will help us to rely on Him. Like the Psalmist we must also release all our sighs and groaning to Him. Having done that we must wait on Him expectantly with anticipation. For He will never leave our problem unattended. What an amazing offer!
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