I will never forget the morning God woke me up to spend quality time with Him. The night before I had set my alarm for 4:00 AM. But during the night, half awake and half asleep, somehow I turned off the alarm. In spite of what I had done, God woke me up a few minutes before 4:00 AM.
"He awakens me morning by morning, He awakens my ear to hear as the learned." Isaiah 50:4
While on earth, Jesus arose very early in the morning to commune with His Father in heaven.
And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. Mark 1:35
In fact, many individuals in the Bible arose either just before or at daybreak to spend quality time with God. Moses rose at dawn to build an alter to the Lord (Exodus 24:4), Job made a habit to seek the Lord the moment he woke up (Job 1:5). King Jehoshaphat and his people rose early in the morning to pursue God and to sing praises to His Name (2 Chronicles 20:20-22), King David took pleasure waking up early to present his requests to the Lord (Psalm 5:3)., and I am sure there were many others who took the time to be in the presence of the Lord morning by morning.
My voice I shall hear you in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer to you, and I will look up. Psalms 5:3
As for me, I find the early morning hours in solitude with my Savior seems to make my day brighter and cheerier in spite of hardships and trials that may come my way. Am I perfect at getting up just before dawn? No, but I am learning, what it means, to be consistent in my early morning devotions.
I found a small article from George Muller, encouraging his readers to rise early in the morning to take the time to converse with the King of heaven and to spend time in His Word:
“I want to encourage all believers to get into the habit of rising early to meet with God. Someone may ask, ‘But why should I rise early?’ To remain too long in bed is a waste of time. Wasting time is unbecoming a saint who is bought by the precious blood of Jesus. His time and all he has is to be used for the Lord.
If we sleep more than is necessary for the refreshment of the body, it is wasting the time the Lord has entrusted us to be used for His glory, for our own benefit, and for the benefit of the saints and unbelievers around us. It may be said, ‘But how shall I set about rising early?’ My advice is: Do not delay. Begin tomorrow. But do not depend on your own strength. You may have begun to rise early in the past but have given it up. If you depend on your own strength in this matter, it will come to nothing. In every good work, we must depend on the Lord. If anyone rises so that he may give the time which he takes from sleep to prayer and meditation, let him be sure that Satan will try to put obstacles in the way.
Trust in the Lord for help. You will honor Him if you expect help from Him in this matter. Pray for help, expect help, and you will have it. In addition to this, go to bed early. If you stay up late, you cannot rise early. Let no pressure of engagements keep you from going habitually early to bed. If you fail in this, you neither can nor should get up early because your body requires rest.
Rise at once when you are awake. Remain not a minute longer in bed or else you are likely to fall asleep again. Do not be discouraged by feeling drowsy and tired from rising early. This will soon wear off. After a few days you will feel stronger and fresher than when you used to lie an hour or two longer than you needed. Always allow yourself the same hours for sleep. Make no change except on account of sickness.”1
"Consecrate yourself to God in the morning; make this your very first work. Let your prayer be, 'Take me, O Lord, as wholly Thine. I lay all my plans at Thy feet. Use me today in Thy service. Abide with me, and let all my work be wrought in Thee.' This is a daily matter. Each morning consecrate yourself to God for that day. Surrender all your plans to Him, to be carried out or given up as His providence shall indicate. Thus day by day you may be giving your life into the hands of God, and thus your life will be molded more and more after the life of Christ."2
1 George Muller Autobiography, p. 117-119
2 Step to Christ, Chap 8, p. 71
NOTE: Due to my busy schedule right now, my friend, Chelsey, is the contributor to today's "Morning Sonshine" thought. Thank you Chelsey!!
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