The Watchman's Diary

” I cried to the Lord with my voice, and He heard me from His holy hill” (Psalm 3:4).

Do you pray knowing that God hears your prayer and has already given a response? One of David’s many gifts was his ability to pray with confidence that the Lord had already answered him. The Psalms can appear to contradict itself but what we see as contradictions are the writers’ confidence that God hears and has answered their prayers.

A number of years ago, Psalm 3 brought me much comfort during a time when it felt like the whole world was against me. I prayed this Psalm with great desperation and anguish as I sought the Lord and his deliverance from life’s piercing arrows. There are times when the troubles of this life seem to have no end; time when there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel. David, even in the darkest days of his life, knew that the light was not only at the end of a tunnel but all around him. The light of David’s life was the Lord and David knew that nothing is too hard for God. That is why he was able to write “I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the Lord sustained me”. David laid out his complaint and described his issues – “Many are they who rise up against me”. Still, he went on to say “But you, O Lord, are a shield for me, my glory and the One who lifts up my head”. David then shifts from speaking in the present tense to speaking in past tense. “I cried to the Lord with my voice, and He heard me from His holy hill”.

What a powerful statement and an example of praying in faith! David here declares that the Lord has already delivered him from his enemies; that the Lord has already answered his prayer in the affirmative and that he was already freed from the hands of those who were seeking his life. What is more amazing is the facts that David declared this before even asking the Lord to save him. It wasn’t until further in his prayer that David cried “Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God! then went on to declare “You have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone”.

Why was David so confident in his declaration? I would say it is because he knew that “Salvation belongs to the Lord” Whom he had already declared “are a shield for me, my glory and the One who lifts up my head”!

This morning, as I read through Psalm 3, it occurred to me that my prayer has changed. I no longer cry in anguish for deliverance from those who seek to destroy me but instead offer shouts of joy and praise, realizing that the Lord has delivered me. I would like to say that I prayed that prayer with the same faith and confidence as David but I was too desperate to even remember if I did. Still, I can now say with confidence that the Lord has delivered me. I now know the power of praying in faith because the Lord is also my shield and the One who lifts up my head.

What are you praying and crying out to the Lord for? Follow David’s lead and know that the God of the universe has already answered you!