Psalm 5:1

The Message

Listen, God! Please, pay attention! Can you make sense of these ramblings, my groans and cries? King-God, I need your help. Every morning you’ll hear me at it again. Every morning I lay out the pieces of my life on your altar and watch for fire to descend.

Cross References

Psalm 17:1

Listen while I build my case, God, the most honest prayer you’ll ever hear. Show the world I’m innocent— in your heart you know I am.

Psalm 64:1

Listen and help, O God. I’m reduced to a whine And a whimper, obsessed with feelings of doomsday.

Psalm 80:1

Listen, Shepherd, Israel’s Shepherd— get all your Joseph sheep together. Throw beams of light from your dazzling throne So Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh can see where they’re going. Get out of bed—you’ve slept long enough! Come on the run before it’s too late.

Psalm 86:1

Bend an ear, God; answer me. I’m one miserable wretch! Keep me safe—haven’t I lived a good life? Help your servant—I’m depending on you! You’re my God; have mercy on me. I count on you from morning to night. Give your servant a happy life; I put myself in your hands! You’re well-known as good and forgiving, bighearted to all who ask for help. Pay attention, God, to my prayer; bend down and listen to my cry for help. Every time I’m in trouble I call on you, confident that you’ll answer.

Romans 8:26

Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.