My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up. Psalm 5:3 NKJV
As I reflect on this prayer of David in Psalm 5 & his aim to daily pray in morning, I am reminded how important prayer in the morning time has been for me on my journey in knowing & following God. It was important to David that he seek God first thing in the morning & acknowledge his need for God & God’s guidance, strength, favor, wisdom, presence, love, deliverance, mercy, etc… David was dependent & desperate for God & that is what his prayers express. David desired God earnestly & delighted in God abundantly & the Psalms clearly communicate that as well. There are several good benefits & reasons to spending time with God in mornings.
First of all it helps you start your day off on the right track & sets a pace for your day to be God-centered. There are SO many responsibilities, tasks, distractions, notifications, emails, text messages that pull for our attention each day. And that pull begins once we open your eyes in the morning. If you will allow yourself to be drawn towards God & draw near to Him in the morning it helps you not let the lesser priorities take the place of what should be top priority, namely loving God with all your heart, soul, mind & strength.
Secondly, when you give your mornings to prayer & reading the word, God will speak you & give you direction for your day or week, your work, family, friends, ministry, mission, hopes, dreams, etc.. We need to let our voice be heard by God but perhaps even more importantly we need to hear from God. We need to hear His heart for us, His wisdom, His perspective, His truth, etc… As David wrote in another Psalm;
Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. Psalm 143:8 ESV
Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah…Psalm 95:7-8 ESV We need to hear God’s voice each day & obey what we hear for our own good & for the sake of giving God glory that He is due.
Thirdly, the reality that the in mornings before everyone is awake (especially your children if you’re a parent) you have the most peaceful, quiet & undistracted time to spend with God. If you are going to intentionally invest in any relationship you need one on one time & focused attention with that person. Husbands this is something our wives often long for from us, our undivided attention. Parents, our children crave this from us. They want to know that they have mom & dad’s face, attention, smile, approval, presence, protection, assistance, etc… Spending time with God in the morning helps deepen the sense of awareness within us that God is present in our lives throughout the day & He that is for us. Studies reveal that the morning hours are the most productive times of the day.
Those of you who aren’t morning people may feel some resistance rising up within as you consider giving up some sleep or going to bed earlier. I know that there is no biblical command that says ‘Thou shalt have thy quiet time in the morning’. And if you have great time with God in prayer/reading the word in the evenings, and that works great for you, then keep that up. But if your spiritual life hasn’t been progressing as healthy Christian’s life should, then you may want to try something different. I don’t think you will regret spending time with God in morning. I am confident that you will experience more joy in God if you do because that has been my experience. I am confident that God will reward you for diligently seeking Him (Hebrews 11:6) and it will be worth it.
So wake up, its time to seek the Lord. Be not a sleepy slumbering Christian.
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