Cause Me to Hear Thy Lovingkindness

The Prayer

This psalm closes its second movement with a request that gathers together everything the previous ten days have been practicing: hearing, not merely speaking, and specifically hearing lovingkindness, not merely instruction or correction, in the morning, at the deliberate, prioritized time this movement has repeatedly named as significant.

Notice the structure of the request. It moves from hearing his lovingkindness to knowing the way to walk, trust first, then direction. This is not a demand for a map before any relationship has been established. It is a request grounded in trust already stated, for in thee do I trust, with direction following from that trust rather than preceding it.

Notice also the closing phrase: for I lift up my soul unto thee. This is the same posture this whole second movement has been cultivating, an actual lifting, an actual offering of the soul itself toward him, not merely words spoken in his general direction but genuine, internal reaching toward actual communion.

As this second movement closes, carry this request forward into the third: not merely words offered to God, but a soul actually lifted toward him, listening for lovingkindness before demanding direction, trusting before requiring a map. This is the quiet this movement has been teaching, ready now to move into active watching.