Meeting With God in the Morning

“It is a good rule never to look into the face of man in the morning till you have looked into the face of God.” Charles Spurgeon

Looking into the face of God first thing in the morning. Sounds great, doesn’t it?

So, what does your morning look like? Have you become a spiritual fast-food junkie? Have you allowed deadlines, projects, children, housework and life’s demands to take priority over your relationship with the Lord? Are you getting your daily devotions to-go?

It’s usually not too difficult to find time to get in some sort of spiritual meal throughout the day, but all too often that meal consists of quickly reading a short passage of scripture, a couple of sentence-long devotionals and maybe a hurried prayer and then out the door we rush, off to accomplish the goals of the day.

Meeting with God requires nurturing your relationship with him. And that means spending time with him. Quality time. More than a fast-food meal.

I understand that at different seasons in our lives, we may not find it easy to spend hours or even minutes alone with God each day. But if cultivating a relationship with him is our desire, we will be determined to set aside some time each day to listen to him and let him speak to us. We will make time for more than a to-go type devotional meal.

The purpose of setting aside time to spend with the Lord is to get to know him better, develop our relationship, and grow spiritually, so that he may better use us for his purposes. And if we really want to get to know him, we will be willing to pay the price. Which often means getting out of bed just that little bit earlier. Not always fun.  I know, right!

Cultivating a relationship takes time. It takes resolve. It takes energy. It takes determination. And most of all, it takes love. If we really love someone, we long to spend time with that person. We want quality time. We rearrange things in our lives to be able to do this. How much more important is it to make time for God? Neglect doesn’t grow a relationship. It starves it.

Now back to that early morning quip. Yes, you knew I’d bring that up again, didn’t you? Firstly, I want you to know, that just because I’m writing about this, doesn’t mean I have it all figured out and have my mornings in order each and every day. No. I’m writing about this because I struggle in this area too. And I need reminding of the importance of becoming more consistent and more concerned with my spiritual mealtimes. And I think it’s something we all need to be reminded of.

It seems that whenever the topic of devotions or quiet time or whatever you like to call it comes up, the phrase ‘in the morning’ is paired with it. Why is that? Is it just coincidental? It’s easy to skip over this morning business as busy women, mothers, wives and grand multi-taskers! But the more I study God’s Word, the more convinced I am of its importance. It’s hard to gloss over it and deny its importance when the verses are staring you right in the face. Let’s take a look at a few.

Firstly, I want to bring your attention to a very notable and important verse.

Mark 1:35 KJV - And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.

Did you see that? “Rising up a great while before day” Who is this verse talking about? Yes. The Lord Jesus. Wow, right? The Lord Jesus made time alone with his Father part of his schedule. He took time, early in the morning, to meet with God. How much more important is it for us to do it? If the Lord Jesus saw it as important then so should we! What an example!

Luke 5:16 KJV - And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.

The case for early rising doesn’t end there, just in case you think that’s it. Wait! There’s more!

Psalm 5:3 KJV - My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.

Psalm 88:13 KJV - But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.

Psalm 57:8 KJV - Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early.

Psalm 143:8 KJV - Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.

Psalm 119:147 KJV - I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried: I hoped in thy word.

Jacob rose early to make a vow to God at Bethel.

God told Moses to come up to Mount Sinai early in the morning.

David rose early to worship, pray and meditate.

The women went to the tomb, early in the morning.

Abraham rose early in the morning to worship the Lord.

You get the picture.

You may be thinking, so how early is early? I think early means different things to different people. But whatever it means to you, I think the point is that it needs to be a time where there is quiet. Before the craziness of the day begins. Before the texts and phone calls begin to interrupt the day. Before the tasks of everyday life are started. And as you know, that time is usually in the morning.

 

 “The best time to converse with God is before worldly occasions stand knocking at the door to be let in: The morning is, as it were, the cream of the day, let the cream be taken off, and let God have it. Wind up thy heart towards heaven at the beginning of the day, and it will go the better all the day after. He that loses his heart in the morning in the world will hardly find it again all the day. O! Christians, let God have your morning meditations.”ThomasWatson

Now, I’m not saying that you’re not spiritual if you don’t take time with God in the morning, but I just know from my own experience, that if I start my day off with the Lord, and take those first few minutes to spend time alone with him, I am better able to face the day, and whatever it throws my way. It may not go as planned and things may fall apart, but I am confident in knowing that I’ve committed my day to the Lord, and I have his Word in my heart and his song on my lips.

In saying this, now that my girls are older, I often find that I have some more concentrated quiet time in the afternoon, while no one is home and I can study in peace. But I don’t think that it should take the place of that special time in the morning that I really need to jump start my day. I see my afternoon times as a bonus. A free gift. An extra special little window of time with the Lord.

I love this little poem I came across recently.

I met God in the morning
When my day was at its best,
And His presence came like sunrise,
Like a glory in my breast.

All day long the Presence lingered,
All day long He stayed with me,
And we sailed in perfect calmness
O’er a very troubled sea.

Other ships were blown and battered,
Other ships were sore distressed,
But the winds that seemed to drive them
Brought to us a peace and rest.

Then I thought of other mornings,
With a keen remorse of mind,
When I too had loosed the moorings,
With the Presence left behind.

So I think I know the secret,
Learned from many a troubled way:
You must seek Him in the morning
If you want Him through the day!

Ralph Spaulding Cushman

 

And here’s another one I really love:

I got up early one morning and rushed right into the day. I had so much to accomplish that I didn't have time to pray. Problems just tumbled about me, and heavier came each task. "Why doesn't God help me?" I wondered. He answered, You didn't ask," I wanted to see joy and beauty, but the day toiled on, gray and bleak. I wondered why God didn't show me. He said, "But you didn't seek. I tried to come into God's presence. I used all my keys at the lock. God gently and lovingly chided, "My child, you didn't knock." I woke up early this morning and paused before enter the day. I had so much to accomplish that i had to take time to pray. Alan Grant

With our days as full as they are, and our lives busier than ever, we can’t afford not to spend time with the Lord early. We can’t afford to rush into our days without the Lord being at the forefront of our minds and hearts.

Psalm 5:3 KJV - My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.

We need to hear God’s voice in the morning. We need to direct our prayer unto him. We need his guidance and we need it early. We need it before the cares of the day overwhelm us. We need it before anything else. We need his words before we read any other. We need to look into his face before we look into the face of any other.

I want his face to shine upon me. I want his grace. I want his peace.

Numbers 6:24-26 KJV - The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

And so, I encourage you to seek him early. Discipline yourself to take that time in the morning to come before him. Give him what time you have and ask him to help you to make more time for him. He alone knows our hearts and he knows our desires. He longs for us to come to him. He calls us to cultivate our relationship with him.

Give him those first few moments of the day, and if you are able to make more time throughout the day to spend with him, then make good use of it. You will find that the more time you spend in his Word, the greater your desire will be to read more and study more and pray more. Seek him early. And seek him often.

Jillian Holmes 8.4.21