In the Morning

My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; 
In the morning I will direct it to You, 
I will look up. 
- Psalm 5:3

When we read through the Psalms, one of the resounding themes is the frequency at which the Psalmists prayed. They pray in the morning, in the evening, in the middle of the night in bed, in the middle of happiness or sorrow, etc. Prayer was woven into their fabric of their lives. One of the most frequent times specifically mentioned in the Psalms is in the morning. Why should we pray and meditate on God then? Is there something of particular value or were the Psalmists all just morning people? Here are some of the Psalms that directly referencing praying in the early morning and spending time with God before the sun rises. Why?

• O God, You are my God; early will I seek You: my soul thirsts for You, my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is. – Psalm 63:1
• I will awaken the dawn. I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples… – Psalm 57: 8 & 9
• Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad. – Psalm 90:14
• But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress. – Psalm 59: 16
• 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
• But I, O Lord, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you. – Psalm 88: 13
• I rise before dawn and cry for help; I hope in your words. – Psalm 119: 147
• Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice. – Psalm 55: 17

Praying and being with God in the morning clearly was something important to all the Psalmists. But is not just the Psalms, praying in the morning is a theme found throughout the Bible. Jesus frequently went away early in the morning to pray. “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).” Why then? Let me briefly present three reasons.

First, each day is hard enough on its own. We need God’s help and need to seek that help as soon as we rise. Jesus teaches us in Matthew 6 that each day has enough trouble for itself (Matthew 6: 34). Here Jesus is teaching us that our days – each day – will be filled with enough issues on its own so we shouldn’t worry about the next day. This teaching is related to the idea of praying in the morning. In order to tackle each day properly, we will need God’s help. We need to ask God to try to help us with each day at the start of our days (the metaphorical morning). God serves as a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Psalm 119: 110). We should start each day accessing that guiding light. “LORD, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress (Isaiah 33:2).” We should ask the Lord to help us get through every day and to be our strength through each day. James teaches us when we draw near to God, He will draw near to us (James. 4:8). We need God’s nearness every day.

Second, when we pray in the quiet of the morning we have less distractions from the world. There is less pulling on our minds and time – we can focusing solely on all that God is and all that God has done for us. Those meditations should in turn create joy, praise, and thanksgiving to God. Many of the Psalms that directly reference praying in the morning are linked with praising and thanking God for all the blessings He has given us. Praying in the morning affords us the reflective time we need to think on all the blessings the Lord has given us and to thank God for another sunrise. We wake the dawn with praises to our God. Jeremiah tell us “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness (Lamentations 3: 22 – 23).” God’s love and mercies start anew each morning and we should thank God every morning for His faithfulness, mercy, and love toward us

Finally, when we start our day with prayer, it helps to put our day and life in the proper perspective. We think about all the ways we truly need God – for both our physical and spiritual needs. It helps us to see and understand our total dependence on Him. We start each day thinking about God, what God has done for us, what God has created for us, and what God will do for us – those thoughts should not only bring about praise and thanksgiving but also establish the proper hierarchy within our minds. God is far above us. This reality helps to humble us each day. We no longer approach the day with a proud self – independent attitude but an attitude that realizes how much we actually need from God each day to make it through. Early morning prayer helps the process Peter described in 1 Peter 4 “therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God…” Realizing the great vastness between myself and God, helps to put my life, my priorities, and my choices each day in the proper perspective. Praying to God in the morning helps to develop that perspective daily.

Ultimately, there are a lot of reasons to start your day by praying to God. Most importantly, it establishes the line of communication we need to make it through each day. Instead of looking around or inward for help, we look up.