Give ear to my words, O Lord;
consider my groaning.
Give attention to the sound of my cry,
my King and my God,
for to you do I pray.
O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice;
in the morning I direct my prayer to you and watch...
Let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
let them ever sing for joy,
and spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may exult in you.
For you bless the righteous, O Lord;
you cover him with favor as with a shield.
Psalm 5: 1-3, 11-12
Not a morning person, you say? My first inclination is to tell you to get up and spend time in prayer anyway, but I know too many who are not morning people to do that. My oldest daughter, who is now 40 years old and a morning person (4 kids 15, 12, 10, and 7) was definitely NOT one as she was growing up. One morning when she was in college I walked into her room and said, "Good Morning!", to which she promptly said, "Why is it that every morning you have to say, 'Good Morning!" I asked her what she would rather I say, and she said, "Well, I'd rather you didn't say anything, but if you have to say something, just say, 'Morning!' So from then on I would go into her room and say, "Morning!" in a very cheerful voice. She didn't appreciate that, either!
All that to say, it is so important that we spend time with our Father--that we either learn to get up in the morning and have our daily time with Him, or we carve out another time in the day. Why? I believe that Psalm 5 gives us some hints.
- We have groanings which no one can hear or reply to but God. Our cries must go up to Him if we are to receive an answer. (verse 1)
- We can look to Him with expectation. No one else is able to give us the desires of our heart. (verse 3)
- The Lord hates the evil of the deceitful and wicked, and without Him as our refuge, we would be in the same place. We must stay in close fellowship with Him. (verse 4-6)
- It is He who makes our way straight, who shows us the way to His house. (verse7)
- Taking refuge in Him gives us cause to rejoice, to sing for joy, to exult in Him. (verse 11)
- He is our protection from our enemies. It is to Him that we must go. (verse 11)
- As we are righteous before Him (and the only way to live righteously is to be bathed in His Word and in close communion with Him) we are covered with His favor. He is our Shield. (verse 12)
Not a morning person? Go to bed earlier. Or carve out a time when just you and the Lord are in close communion. Don't wait until your enemies are on your heels and you feel desperate. We are always desperate and in great need of our Father's time. And you know what? He is need of our fellowship, as well.
Yawning by noon,
Gloria
