So much to chew on in this psalm!! And Spurgeon’s notes are full of so much useful insight. I’m only going to focus on verses 1 and 2.

David writes, Give ear to my words, O Lord; consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray. That is from the ESV. KJV uses “meditation” rather than “groaning.” Spurgeon quotes Martin Luther who relates how wonderful it is that God can “hear” and will consider our feelings when we have no words with which to express our groanings and emotions. The Lord even considers our thoughts. Those things that we may not ever put to words are also heard by the Lord. And he considers them all: our words, our groanings, and our cries.

Spurgeon writes,

“Consider my meditation.” Let thy holy soul consider it as presented through my all-glorious Mediator: then regard thou it in thy wisdom, weigh it in the scales, judge thou of my sincerity, and of the true state of my necessities, and answer me in due time for thy mercy’s sake! There may be prevailing intercession where there are no words; and alas! there may be words where there is no true supplication. Let us cultivate the spirit of prayer which is even better than the habit of prayer. There may be seeming prayer where there is little devotion. We should begin to pray before we kneel down, and we should not cease when we rise up.

The Father knows the true state of my necessities. Having known my days from before one of them came to be, God alone occupies a unique position to understand my needs. He alone can rightly judge whether my voice and groanings are what they should be. I can trust His faithful consideration of them, but as often happens in prayer, He can change my desires to match what it is I need and what He will grant. Many, many times God will put a desire in my heart so that I will ask Him for it. I do the same kind of thing with my own children. If there is something that I want them to have, then I’ll start planting the idea for it in their minds and talk about it over time, so that when the time of giving arrives, they will receive the very thing their hearts have been set on. And all because I put it in their minds to want it. I think God does that, too.

God also enjoys the unique position of knowing whether or not my words match my thoughts. I wish this weren’t true of me, but it is. I can be thinking one thing while my words are conveying something else. God can discern the thoughts and intentions of my heart much better than I. Saying words over and over will not make them true. Hour after hour in prayer will not necessarily develop in me a spirit of prayer. Not so with Jesus. While he was on earth, not only did he have a full-grown habit of prayer, he also had a true spirit of prayer. And this is my prayer today: That my King and my God would grant me a habit and a spirit of prayer that honors Him, that pleases Him when He considers my voice and my groanings.

Others’ meditations on Psalm 5:

• Dorothy of Fieldstone Cottage