Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.
Ver. 17. Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray] So Daniel prayed three times a day, Daniel 6:10; and in the temple they prayed at the third, sixth, and ninth hour of the day. The saints set themselves certain hours to pray in (besides extraordinary occasions putting them upon that daily sacrifice), the better to arouse their spirits, and to keep constant intercourse with God. Papists have their set times; and Mahometans, whatever occasion they have, either by profit or pleasure, to divert them, will pray five times every day. This they do by form and custom, not by conscience: take we heed of those ordinary traitors, formality and customariness; it hath been bewailed before that many hold only a certain stint of daily duties (as malt-horses their pace, or mill-horses their round), and rest upon them when they have done, using the means as mediators, and so fall short, of Christ.
And cry aloud] Rousing up myself, and wrestling with God, not in a customary, frigid, bedulling way; but with all intention of spirit and contention of speech.
And he shall hear my voice] How should he do otherwise, I coming upon him with such earnestness? Preces fundimus, coelum tundimus, misericordias extorquemus, saith those primitive Christians whose prayers came before God as the noise of many waters, Revelation 14:2 .