Psalm 55:16–17
As for me, I will call upon God; and the Lord shall save me.
Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.
One of our scriptures equates prayer with the purest, simplest form of worship.128 In mortality, whether it be from the safe space of a child’s cradle or in our gray-haired final moments, the closest, most private and personal relationship we have with God is in solitary, single-minded prayer.
The scriptures say that we should “pray always,”129 however demanding that invitation may seem. Obviously, one cannot always be offering a formal prayer or a kneeling prayer or even a vocal prayer, but we can have a prayer in our heart at all times and have our longing be fixed upon the Lord. Amulek phrases it as “let[ting] your hearts be full, drawn out in prayer unto him continually.”130 Alma said to his son Helaman, “Let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.”131
But having said that about a prayerful heart and heaven-oriented attitude, it must be acknowledged that God also expects us to actually “cry aloud,” to have honest, earnest vocal prayer on a regular basis. To pray “evening, and morning, and at noon” is evidence of the Psalmist’s obedience to this command. Not that the prayers of our heart should ever be formulated or numbered, but it is interesting to note how often in the scriptures the ancients prayed in a formal way at least three times a day. The Book of Mormon records the injunction to “cry unto him in your houses, yea, over all your household, both morning, mid-day, and evening,”132 and the courageous Daniel “kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed.”133
PSALM 55:16-17
Man in a Cornfield. Private Collection.
J. Eastman Johnson/The Bridgeman Art Library/Getty Images.
We should not get mechanical in our prayer habits. The number of times we pray is much less important than the earnestness and faith with which those prayers are offered. But there is a constant reminder in the scriptures to pray always, to let prayer mark the way we start our day, the way we pursue our day, and the way we conclude our day.
Why? Beyond the fact that God is our Father and we need His loving, omniscient guidance always, there are repeated reminders in the scriptures that there is a particular safety in prayer, a special protection from evil. And since evil is always “abroad in the land,”134 the counsel we find in holy writ says that we should pray always “lest [we] enter into temptation.”135 Inherent in that counsel may be the simple recognition that a prayerful, humble person is less likely to go seeking for trouble, to go where evil influence is likely to be. But this call to prayer undoubtedly means a great deal more than that—that there is literally divine protection in prayer, a shield, if you will (a favorite word in the psalms), which in response to the humble prayer of the faithful keeps evil at bay and forbids the forces of Lucifer from overpowering us.
We should always have a prayer in our hearts and, as often as practicable, we should “cry aloud” to our Father in Heaven. There is power in the articulation of prayerful words, the sound they have in our own ears as well as the sound that they carry to heaven.
In seasons of distress and grief
My soul has often found relief
And oft escaped the tempter’s snare
By thy return, sweet hour of prayer.136
Notes