Evening, Morning, and Noon (Psalm 55:16-19)

¹⁶ As for me, I call to God,
and the Lord saves me.
¹⁷ Evening, morning and noon
I cry out in distress,
and he hears my voice.
¹⁸ He rescues me unharmed
from the battle waged against me,
even though many oppose me.
¹⁹ God, who is enthroned from of old,
who does not change—
he will hear them and humble them,
because they have no fear of God.

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What jumped out at me in these few verses today was verse 17.  David says that he calls out to the Lord “evening, morning, and noon.”  (In the Hebrew reckoning of days, the new day begins in the evening, not at midnight, so David is following chronologically here.)  The point is that throughout the day, David is calling on the Lord for assistance.

I’m a big proponent of having set times for prayer and meditation.  What has worked best for me over the years is dedicated time first thing in the morning to Scripture and prayer.  As I’ve recounted in these devotions, I meditate on the Word, the previous day, and the day ahead, bringing it all to the Lord in prayer.

But this passage today reminds me of the blessing of ongoing prayer throughout the day.  The Lord would have us call upon him when the need strikes us, when a blessing is realized, when we hear of someone in need, or at any other time.  We don’t need to save them all up for our next time of set prayer.

God has promised to be with us throughout our day, going before us in trials, strengthening and guiding us.  It only makes sense that we keep the dialogue going as we walk through the day together.  So my prayer right now – in my planned prayer time – is that I would go through this day aware of the Lord’s presence and His ready hear for my prayers throughout the day.

NOTE:

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