As for me, I will call upon God, and the Lord shall save me. Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice. (Psalm 55:16-17)
In these verses, David shines a light on the ancient custom of suspending one’s routine in order to pray at these three different periods of the day. This custom acknowledges that these three times of the day correspond to times when the position of the sun changes most noticeably. At evening the sun begins to disappear beyond the horizon; at dawn it reappears, and at noon it reaches its zenith. And so, during the time that man is given in a day to do what he must, it is appropriate to pause momentarily to thank the Creator for life and the ability to serve Him in the day.
Like food to the physical body, prayer sustains the soul; not because our prayerful words are life giving in and of themselves, but because prayer is the means by which we communicate, interact and share intimacy with the Giver of Life. Through prayer we engage the Almighty and encourage a relationship with Him that, day by day, grows stronger. As the relationship grows, we grow in our faith, wisdom and understanding. And so in that vein of thought, to enter into prayer at these prominent times of the day parallels why it is customary to have a meal at these same times. The evening meal sustains us through the night; the morning meal gives us strength to begin the day and the noon meal carries us until evening. Likewise, the benefit of one prayer time sustains us until the next.
That being so, it stands to reason that the longer we go without praying exposes us to spiritual weakness just as going without physical sustenance weakens our body. That is why the Bible is adamant about prayer; it is a necessity in the life of a believer. Without meaningful prayer in our life, we are weakened in our faith and less effective when it comes to advancing God’s purpose in the earth. There are, in fact, some issues in this life that, without the commitment to prayer, will be insurmountable. On the other hand, the fervent prayer of the righteous can accomplish many things. And so, let us all take a cue from David; we shouldn’t think that a prayer every now and then is sufficient to fulfill God’s purpose in our life. We should be in prayer throughout the day, and as Paul encouraged us — “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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