evening, morning, and noon: the timing of prayer But I call to God, and the Lord saves me. Evening, morning, and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice.--Psalm 55:16-17 David spoke of praying three times a day, similar to the prayer habits of Daniel. Certainly, desperate times call for persistent and consistent times of prayer, but I wonder why David spoke of beginning prayer in the evening? Meditating on Psalm 55 Im struck by the timing of Davids prayers--that is, why David spoke of praying from evening, morning, and noon in that order? Usually, I think of my day and my time for devotions and prayer beginning in the morning. In truth, if I struggle with prayer my experience has been that it is harder for me to pray in those hours before I go to sleep, when the dark of night has come. Im not sure if there is anything to this but I was reminded in Genesis that after each day God created it says, And there was evening, and there was morning--the first day--Genesis 1:5. Notice that it says evening first, that the day was described as beginning in the evening. I dont know for sure but my thought as to why the the Bible describes the day beginning in the evening is more about faith than anything. Real faith that experiences new beginnings is birthed in darkness when nothing can be seen for sure. Jacobs encounters with God at Bethel and Peniel began in the dark of night, as was Daniels long night in the lions den, and we know Jesus spent long nights in prayer. But the point is that these prayer encounters all began in the evening and went into the morning. So this is what I believe is going on with Davids life of prayer when he says he prays evening, morning, and noon in that order. I believe that like at creation, prayer beginning in the evening signals that real prayer that sees new beginnings must first begin in the dark where there is no visible breakthrough in sight. Then, rising for prayer in the morning is the sign of a faith that believes that Gods coming and responding to prayer is as certain as the rising of the sun. But why pray at noon? Noon is the brightest time of the day, when the sun is at its zenith in the sky. I believe the timing of Davids prayer at noon was a sign of the completion of faith that sees a thing through to victory or as I heard growing up: praying till you pray through! Notice David says, ...I cry out in distress and he hears my voice.--vs. 16. David knew that he had prayed through and was heard! And David indicates this fact of praying through to victory when he says in the next verse: He ransoms me unharmed from the battle waged against me, even though many oppose me.--vs. 18 The timing of prayer from evening, morning, till noon brings about a kind of confidence of victory that can only be described as being ransomed unharmed from the battle!
Posted on: Sun, 06 Jul 2014 11:59:05 +0000
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