Early and Expectant
Scripture
O Lord, hear me as I pray;
pay attention to my groaning.
Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God,
for I pray to no one but you.
Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord.
Each morning I bring my requests to you
and wait expectantly.
-Psalm 5:1–3 (NLT)
David begins this psalm not with composed confidence but with desperation. He is groaning. He is crying out for help. And yet even from that raw place, he directs every word toward the One who can actually do something about it. I pray to no one but you. There is a clarity in that line that cuts through all the noise of our lives. We have so many places to take our anxiety, our confusion, our need for reassurance. We reach for our phones, our plans, our people. And none of those things are wrong in themselves. But David has learned something most of us spend years figuring out. There is only One who is both fully attentive and fully able. Everything else is a lesser substitute.
And then we notice the rhythm. David comes to God each morning. Not once in a while, not in moments of crisis only, but each morning as a practice of the heart. Paul tells us to pray without ceasing, and that ongoing conversation with God is available to us all day. But there is something worth paying attention to in David’s habit of beginning with God before the day begins. Not out of obligation or religious duty, but out of relationship. The morning is a gift. It is new mercy, fresh perspective, a moment before the noise presses in. What we do with that gift says something about where our trust actually lives.
“Rose early to seek God, and found Him whom my soul loveth. Who would not rise early to meet such company?”¹ — Robert Murray McCheyne, Memoir and Remains
McCheyne understood what David is describing. The early morning is not primarily about discipline. It is about desire. It is about wanting to be with someone. And David closes this brief passage with three words that deserve more attention than they usually get. He waits expectantly. He does not dump his requests on God and rush into his day. He lingers in hopeful anticipation, fully expecting God to speak, lead, and move. When was the last time you approached your time with God that way? Not checking off a box but genuinely expecting to encounter someone who loves you and wants to be found?
That is the invitation of these three verses. Come early. Come honestly. Come expectantly. And see what you find.
Reflection:
- Is there anything you are currently trusting in more than you are trusting in God? How can you surrender that today in prayer?
- What habits or rhythms might help you begin your day with the Lord more intentionally?
- Do you wait expectantly in your prayer life? What would it look like to make space to truly listen?
Prayer:
Ask God to draw you into deeper, more expectant communion with Him. Invite the Spirit to renew your desire for prayer, especially at the start of each day. Pray for a quiet heart that listens, trusts, and responds to His presence and direction.
Footnote:
¹ Robert Murray McCheyne, Memoir and Remains of Robert Murray McCheyne, ed. Andrew Bonar (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1973), 55.