The Morning Siege Text: Psalm 5:1-3
Introduction: Prayer as Spiritual Warfare
We live in an age that treats prayer as a form of spiritualized therapy, a quiet moment of introspection, or a polite celestial request sent up to a divine suggestion box. But the prayers of the saints in Scripture are rarely so tame. They are not the gentle musings of a religious book club; they are the urgent dispatches from a war zone. The Psalms are the prayer book of the Church, and they teach us a rugged, robust, and often militant piety that is desperately needed in our soft and compromised generation.
This psalm of David, appointed for the choirmaster to be played on the flutes, is not a peaceful, pastoral melody for a quiet sunrise. It is the sound of a king arming himself for the day's battle. It is a declaration of allegiance and a petition for divine intervention before the conflict begins. David is a man of war, surrounded by enemies, and his first act of the day is not to check the news or consult his advisors, but to report for duty to his commanding officer, his King and his God. He is laying siege to the throne of grace.
We must understand that prayer is not passive. It is an act of aggression against the kingdom of darkness and our own sinful flesh. When you get on your knees in the morning, you are not simply having a quiet time. You are establishing a beachhead for the kingdom of God in your day, in your home, in your city. You are picking up the weapons of your warfare, which are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. These first few verses of Psalm 5 teach us the foundational elements of this daily battle: how to approach our King, the necessity of a disciplined appointment, and the confident expectation that must accompany our petitions.
The Text
Give ear to my words, O Yahweh,
Consider my meditation.
Give heed to the sound of my cry for help, my King and my God,
For to You I pray.
O Yahweh, in the morning, You will hear my voice;
In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch.
(Psalm 5:1-3 LSB)
The Royal Address (v. 1-2)
David begins his prayer by demanding an audience with the sovereign of the universe. Notice the directness, the holy boldness.
"Give ear to my words, O Yahweh, Consider my meditation. Give heed to the sound of my cry for help, my King and my God, For to You I pray." (Psalm 5:1-2)
David uses three distinct pleas here: "give ear," "consider," and "give heed." This is not the frantic repetition of a man unsure if he is being heard. This is the structured, formal, and urgent language of a courtier approaching his monarch. He is appealing to God on multiple levels. "Give ear to my words" refers to the audible things he is saying. But then he goes deeper: "Consider my meditation." The word for meditation here can mean a groaning or a sighing. David is asking God not just to hear his articulate requests, but to understand the inarticulate burdens of his heart, the anxieties and thoughts that lie beneath the words. The Holy Spirit does this for us, interceding with groanings too deep for words (Rom. 8:26), but we should still ask the Father to look upon the state of our soul.
Then he cries out, "Give heed to the sound of my cry for help." This is the raw, desperate shout. So we have the structured words, the internal groanings, and the desperate cry. David is bringing his whole being into this prayer. He is not holding anything back. This is not a detached, formalistic exercise.
And notice to whom he addresses this plea: "my King and my God." This is crucial. David, the king of Israel, understands that he is a vassal king. He has a King. His throne is a delegated authority, and he is reporting to the true Monarch. This is the foundation of all legitimate prayer and all legitimate authority on earth. We can only command in God's name when we are submitted to His command. When David calls God "my King," he is acknowledging God's total sovereignty over his life, his circumstances, and his enemies. When he says "my God," he is claiming a personal, covenantal relationship. This is not the abstract "God of the philosophers," but the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who has bound Himself to His people by blood covenant.
The reason he gives for this confident approach is simple and profound: "For to You I pray." He is not praying to idols, which have ears but cannot hear. He is not crying out to the void. He is not talking to himself. He is addressing the living God, the one who has commanded His people to pray and has promised to hear them. His prayer is an act of exclusive loyalty. In a world full of false gods and usurper kings, David directs his worship and his petitions to Yahweh alone. This is the first act of spiritual warfare: to declare your exclusive allegiance.
The Morning Watch (v. 3)
In verse 3, David establishes the time, the method, and the attitude of his prayer.
"O Yahweh, in the morning, You will hear my voice; In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch." (Psalm 5:3 LSB)
The repetition of "in the morning" is significant. This establishes the principle of firstfruits. The first part of the day belongs to God. Before the world gets its hands on you, before the anxieties and demands of the day can set their agenda, you must set God's agenda. To give God the morning is to declare that He has priority over everything else. It is a practical acknowledgment that without Him, you can do nothing. We are to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and this begins with the first moments of our day.
David is confident: "You will hear my voice." This is not presumption; it is faith. He is standing on the covenant promises of God. God is not hard of hearing. He is not reluctant to listen to His children. The problem is never on His end; it is on ours. We fail to speak, or we speak with doubt.
Then we see the method: "I will order my prayer to You." The verb here is the same one used for arranging the wood and the sacrifice on the altar (Lev. 1:7-8) or for arranging soldiers for battle. This is not a haphazard, sleepy, "now I lay me down to sleep" kind of prayer. This is a deliberate, strategic, and orderly preparation for the day. You are laying out your requests, your praises, your confessions before God like a priest arranging the sacrifice. You are setting your battle lines for the day. A man who wants to take a city does not just wander toward it. He draws up a plan of attack. A man who wants his day to be consecrated to God must order his prayers.
Finally, we have the attitude: "and eagerly watch." This is the capstone of the verse. It is one thing to pray; it is another to expect an answer. The word for "eagerly watch" means to look out for, to spy, to keep watch from a watchtower. David is like a sentinel on the city wall, looking for the messenger to return with a reply from the king. He is looking for God's providential answer. He expects God to act. How many of our prayers are stillborn because we launch them like paper airplanes and never look to see where they land? We pray, say "amen," and then walk away, living the rest of our day as though we had done nothing of consequence.
To watch eagerly is to live in active anticipation of God's intervention. It means you are looking for His hand in the events of your day. It means you are ready to give Him thanks when the answer comes. It transforms prayer from a religious duty into a dynamic, ongoing conversation with the living God. It is the faith that God not only hears, but answers. This is the confidence that should characterize all our praying. We are not praying into a void; we are addressing our King, and we should be watching for His royal response.