I was reading through Psalm 5 this morning and David’s words challenged my concept of prayer. David says,

Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my sighing. (2) Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. (3) In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation. --Psalms 5:1-3 NIV

At first glance, we suppose that David is in trouble and that he is simply asking God to help him. But look closer, do you notice something about his prayer? It has both words and no words. It has verbal expression and sighing. Charles Spurgeon in his commentary on Psalms says,

There are two sorts of prayers—those expressed in words, and the unuttered longings which abide as silent meditations. Words are not the essence but the garments of prayer.

As I read that today, it challenged my theology of prayer. Prayer is not about our well crafted words. Although, it is certainly an act of worship to write prayers to God. Nevertheless, we must understand that our prayer takes place through the Holy Spirit. Paul says,

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. --Romans 8:26

Allow me to challenge you today, as I have been challenged to see prayer as an act of submission, and as the work of God.
God, we do not know what we should pray, but we know that you do. In fact, we are unable to pray without your assistance, so we ask you today to take our prayers, feeble and frail as they are, and intercede for us. Take our words, as inadequate as they may be and present them as beautiful prayer offerings.