“O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch” (Psalm 5:3 ESV).
David wrote this psalm describing his habit of seeking the Lord in prayer in the morning. He spoke of how he cried out to the Lord and then watched and waited for God’s response. He prayed with confident expectation that the Lord would answer him.
The ESV translation, “In the morning I prepare a sacrifice,” is unique among English translations. A better translation might be, “In the morning I lay out my requests before you.” The Hebrew verb means “to lay or set in order, to direct towards.” So, I suppose the idea of a sacrifice might be implied, but the simpler translation of the KJV, “In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee,” seems preferred. However, having said this, the idea of David “laying” his requests before the Lord as one would a morning sacrifice, might be implied in the verb.
We can lay out our prayers before the Lord every morning with confident expectation as David did. But we don’t have to worry about a sacrifice. For the Lord Jesus has already made the sacrifice, “once for all” (Heb. 10:10). Therefore, we can know that the Lord hears our prayers for we pray in the name of Jesus.
PRAYER: Dear Father, we lay our requests before You this morning. Hear us and give attention to our cry. We wait for Your answer with expectation. Fill us afresh by Your Spirit. Anoint us to do Your will. In Jesus’ name, amen.