Psalm 143:8 (NIV)
Let the morning bring me word of Your
unfailing love, for I have put my trust in You.
Show me the way I should go, for to You I lift up my soul.
In his book Honest
to God, (Zondervan, 1990, pp 17-18) Pastor Bill Hybels described a typical
morning he used to experience where he mindlessly went through the activities
he had to do like dragging himself out of bed, getting ready for work,
listening to financial news on the radio while driving to work, buying coffee
without wanting to talk to the cashier, thinking about the tasks of the day
awaiting him and so on. One morning
while gazing out his office window, looking at a lake on his church’s (Willow
Creek) property, he realized that his mornings were tainted by purely human
perspectives. Here’s what he wrote, “Not
once had I seen the world through godly eyes.
I had been more interested in international finances than in the moral
demise of our nation. I had thought more
about houses than the people inside them.
I had considered the tasks awaiting me more important than the woman
serving my coffee. I had been more
intent on logically supporting my plans than sincerely seeking God’s. I’d
thought more about staff members’ productivity than their walk with the Lord or
their family life. I’d viewed
correspondence waiting on my desk as a drudgery rather than a way to offer
encouragement, counsel, or help.” He
then wrote about his need to renew his heart and mind to begin his days in a
godly direction, not his own selfish human direction.
I thought of
Hybel’s words when I read this verse from Psalm 143. It speaks of starting your morning the right
way, the godly way, by letting God’s Word remind you of His unfailing love, by
starting your day trusting in Him, and asking Him for divine guidance in living
the rest of your day according to His will and ways.
How are you
reminded of God’s unfailing love? By
studying His Word. Every book of the
Bible has a connection to Jesus[1]
and Jesus is love (John 3:16, Romans 8:37-39, I John 4:9-11, others). So any reasonable focus on God’s Word will
readily remind you of how much God loves you.
Romans 10:17
declares that “faith comes from hearing and hearing from the Word of God”. Therefore, studying your Bible will naturally
increase and deepen your faith. That’s
why the psalmist writes that he can put his trust in the Lord because God’s
Word establishes, maintains, and enhances that trust.
One of my
favorite Bible passages is Proverbs 3:5-6.
The final stanza of that passage says that “He will make your paths
straight”. That’s what God will do if
you study His Word and trust in Him. He
will show you the way to go, He will make your paths straight. I love the promise of Psalm 32:8 where God
promises to instruct me and teach me in the way I should go and will always
counsel and keep His eye on me.
Mornings,
biblically, seem to be the best time to spend time with God, make your prayer
requests, and to live the rest of your day the way God wants you to live
it. Look up the following verses: Psalm 5:3, 59:16, 88:13, 90:14, 92:1-2;
Isaiah 33:2, 50:4, Lamentations 3:22-23. Do these verses describe your early
morning habits? If not, why not resolve
to make some changes so that you start “lifting up your soul” to God every
morning?
“In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice;
in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.” -- Psalm
5:3
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