Our Daily Bread -- God Is Listening

March 15, 2015

Read: Psalm 5
Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 26-27; Mark 14:27-53

My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up. —Psalm 5:3

The day before Billy Graham’s interview in 1982 on The Today Show, his director of public relations, Larry Ross, requested a private room for Graham to pray in before the interview. But when Mr. Graham arrived at the studio, his assistant informed Ross that Mr. Graham didn’t need the room. He said, “Mr. Graham started praying when he got up this morning, he prayed while eating breakfast, he prayed on the way over in the car, and he’ll probably be praying all the way through the interview.” Ross later said, “That was a great lesson for me to learn as a young man.”

Prayerfulness is not an event; it is a way of being in relationship with God. This kind of intimate relationship is developed when God’s people view prayerfulness as a way of life. The Psalms encourage us to begin each day by lifting our voice to the Lord (Ps. 5:3); to fill our day with conversations with God (55:17); and in the face of accusations and slander, to give ourselves totally to prayer (109:4). We develop prayer as a way of life because we desire to be with God (42:1-4; 84:1-2; 130:5-6).

Prayer is our way of connecting with God in all life’s circumstances. God is always listening. We can talk to Him any time throughout the day. —Marvin Williams

Thinking It Over
What is one major obstacle to developing your prayer life? What changes do you sense God wants to make in your heart so that you see prayer as a way of life?

In prayer, God hears more than your words— He listens to your heart.

INSIGHT: We are not told about the events that precipitated the writing of this psalm. Some scholars speculate that the enemies David speaks of may have been Doeg the Edomite (1 Sam. 22) or Ahithophel (2 Sam. 15–17). David brought his concerns to God because he knew God would deal with his enemies and care for him.

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