Sponteneous?
In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice; in the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch. Psalm 5:3 NASB
Order my prayer – First, a modest correction. “My prayer” is not found in the text. It might be that the context is correct, but the verse reads, “I will order toward you.” Once we remove the inserted word “prayer,” things change. David isn’t saying that he will follow a prayer ritual. He’s not going to get on his knees, bow his head, fold his hands and repeat a creed. He’s saying that he will set his life in proper order because he is expecting to be recognized by God. No point in asking to be acknowledged by YHVH if we aren’t “dressed” for the occasion. Oh, did that remind you of a parable about the nature of the kingdom? Maybe Yeshua read David. What do you think?
So now that we have established the necessity of order before God, what exactly does that mean? Perhaps it’s worth noting how many times the verb is used with reference to worship.
One encounters this verb with many objects; pieces of firewood set in order for a sacrificial fire by Abraham for his son Isaac, in one of the most moving scenes in the ot (Gen 22:9); pieces of the sacrificial bull arranged on the altar by the priests (Lev 1:8); showbread set out in two rows of six cakes on the gold table (Lev 24:8); seven altars set up by the pagan mantic Balaam (Num 23:4); stalks of flax arranged by Rahab for hiding the spies (Josh 2:6); a table prepared for dining (Ps 23:5; Isa 21:5); words produced for speaking (Job 32:14); a legal case developed for presentation (Job 13:18); etc. In II Sam 23:5 David exults in the covenant granted him by Yahweh, “for he has made with me an everlasting covenant, / ordered (ʿărûkâ) in all things and secure.[1]
This last comment is significant. For David, order is epitomized in the covenant. The covenant makes life secure. The covenant guarantees that God is accessible—and that He recognizes His chosen ones. The covenant is the basis of all interaction with YHVH. Without the covenant, life is meaningless, detached from its Creator. When David says that he is putting things in order every morning, he is asserting his alignment with YHVH’s covenant. The reason he expects to see the hand of God over his life is because God has promised never to remove Himself from Israel.
It’s amazing to me that the majority of Christian believers fail to recognize this. It’s amazing that so many prayers are directed toward God without acknowledging the basis for God’s concern, namely, God’s promise to Israel. It’s equally amazing that God even answers such prayers. Who do we think we are, addressing God as though He were our God when He makes it abundantly clear that He is Israel’s God? Maybe we would find our prayers more potent if they began with the proper ordering (‘e-ʿērek).
Topical Index: to order, ʿārak, covenant, prayer, Psalm 5:3
[1] Harris, R. L., Archer, G. L., Jr., & Waltke, B. K. (Eds.). (1999). Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 696). Chicago: Moody Press.
This rings very true even though it flies in the face of Jesus, Jesus and only Jesus. In all my years, while I focued on “Jesus” I really set YHVH aside and in the back. I think that was missing the order of things. All authority was given to Yeshua BY YHVH. Order has been missing in my life and mostly been characterized by chaos. Bummer. Alas, there is time to rectify in “ordering toward YHVH.”
Amain Skip, another great Today’s Word. Keep bringing it!
Yes, but then we must be concerned as to whether the order is, “the GOD of Israel” or “the god of ‘ISRAEL'”, ‘ey?
Yeshua prayed to the Father, and gave us that example. We petition Him in the name of His Son, and for the sake of that Son. That is the correct ‘order’; we need BOTH – not either/or – to effectuate all communication with heaven.
I wake, and upon waking, bless the Lord as I got taught by this forum: “baruch atah Adonai”. Then proceed to go over everything before I get up. That gives me the correct strength to get up in. I used panic (induced adrenaline) to get myself up for decades. Wrong energy! Proper alignment (order) with heaven gives me the strength of heaven. Love is not ‘natural’ to us, in that it has another Source (will) that we must consciously choose on a constant basis. This act of morning communication (prayer) lines my power lines up with the great Transformer Who desires to reproduce Himself in me by transforming me into His likeness. That requires me to set my self on the morning altar (which is what prayer is) in order (whoops! having too much fun!) to do my part in making that happen. That joint effort orders, or, makes our wills (minds) “one” – um, unified. Halleluah!
In my bible, God’s promise was to Abraham and his seed. ” And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise”, so I would change a question “Who do we think we are? to “Who are we?”, because once you know, you don’t think, you just know the truth which sets you free and helps to “avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the Law of Moses; for they are unprofitable and vain” Titus 3:9.
It says Yeshua still intercedes on our behalf.For all that think they can avoid him when we pray you might think twice. Though Yeshua only has it’s problems,so does God only.I don’t pray too Yeshua but pray in his name . I sure need Yeshua to intercede he is the perfect intercessor he is not just a tack on to prayer either.As far as covenant relationship Skips right but we must choose a corrupted levitical high priesthood or Yeshua as our incorruptible high priest . Both made intercession for Israel but which one would you choose to intercede for you.
On May 2 of this year, Skip published “Call Upon the Name” and it offered clarity about “in the name of” . Somewhere in my journey, I came to understand that “in ‘Jesus’ name” could be understood as “in the authority Yeshua granted/taught us”. And since then, when I have prayed that way in “mixed company” it has created dialogue and consideration of possibilities.
As I am sure we have all heard his name used at the end of prayer ,like some repetitive mantra . Some things people pray for ,and use his name to justify it ,makes me cringe. Like I said it’s not just a tack on name too everything we come up with.We fail to discern how to use it. The first century assembly knew.I fail to see that kind of demonstration of its power now.Somewhere were not using it properly nor understand its authority .I sure pray to understand that more.??
It took me awhile to figure out how important it is to abide in His order in our approaching Him. (Years) The good news is that He extends grace and overlooks our ignorance. That’s not to say that once we know what’s right and wrong we can continue in our ignorance, only that He’s gracious to bring us to the place He wants us to be. It’s amazing to see the order given by God in the scriptures, from the order in the encampment to the order of their departure, it was very specific. Even Yeshua places the people in specific numbers of groups before He fed them. And that order about prayer, “Our Father”….. just so I know that when I’m tempted to pray for God to bring “lightning down” on someone else, He’s ours, not just mine. It’s truly amazing though, the difference in power displayed when you submit yourself to His order instead of asking Him to abide in yours. If I submit to the fundamentals of mathmatics, I can extend it properly and send a man to the moon. If I reject those same fundamentals, I can send a man (not that tough, think a large slingshot) but where he lands is up for grabs. That’s the difference.
Robert, Order is everything, not only did it take me a while, it took me 70 YEARS to learn this 7 years later. All the while it was sneaking up on me but I couldn’t see it. In the rear view mirror it is so clear now, maybe because I have been slowly learning to look backward instead of forward where I couldn’t see clearly.
Not too long ago the OT was gobbledygook to me. Today it is everything. All I need. I just needed to have it properly translated and applied to understand it fully as the Messiah did for us all and BOOM, there it is, like it always was, always will be, till Kingdom come. In the military it is called standing orders.
It just needed some light as it did in the beginning to kick start it all! Now stand at ease.
“Standing orders.” What a great way to describe it!
This post and some of the comments made me think of all the ways we have been deceived through the years…especially in the last 70 years since the 50’s. Seems like the has been a slow return to truths but years of being both poisoned (literally I mean) and brainwashed make sharing the truth and coming to the truth a very difficult process. It started out slowly but increased greatly as more and more were numbed mentally. NASA. The CDC (direct from Nazi Germany I would say). Lies. Lies. And more lies. People believe anything they see on TV or read on fb which makes it even more of a struggle. They don’t know that they are being lied to, manipulated. I feel exhausted but think that somehow being in the last 1000 years already (6018 I do believe) that only good will come out of this horrible mess that has ruined lives and the ability to have discernment. Not entirely impossible but not without painful bouts of cognitive dissonance. It depends on the amount of damage done. I am trying to do what I can in any way I can regardless of the resistance and regardless of the subject (so many!!). My daughters are a bit embarrassed when I ask waiters and waitresses if they know why pork shouldn’t be eaten! Not that people listen to me but I do what I need to do regarding any lie I have learned (the hard way) is a lie. Thankful for all the good teachers and teaching! That includes Skip!