PSALM 59:16 – 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.
THEME OF THE DAY. A GREAT START TO THE DAY. How do we start each day? Here are five types of Christians and how they greet the day. We will find ourselves identified with one of them. First is the person who hits the snooze button as many times as possible, getting every wink in, and then rolls out of bed “falling into the day” with no spiritual preparation of the heart. A second type of Christian gets up early, gets ready for the day and enters the day with energy and zeal, but no spiritual preparation of the heart is included. A third type of Christian greeting the day is the organizer; the controller, the one who has the planner filled with a detailed schedule ready to be executed, and that is exactly what happens, yet, no spiritual preparation of the heart occurs. We come to the fourth Christian. This one has a set routine. Same old, same old. It is pretty much a mindless routine which unfolds each morning, but in the routine, spiritual preparation of the heart never makes it into the routine. And now meet Christian number five. He or she greets the Lord of the morning, in the morning. While getting ready to live life under the sun, this Christian meets the Son.
The importance of starting the day in heaven, not the earth, is extremely important for Christians. Now I know people say, “I am not a morning person.” Be careful here. Do a study of the Psalms and even the life of the Lord Jesus. We will find the Psalmists and the Lord were “morning people” when it came to spiritual preparation for the day. This does not mean a two-hour intense Bible study from 4:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m., but these examples serve us well to start the day with spiritual preparation. Not only is this a good practice. It is an essential practice. Without making time with the Lord and prayer before we engage the many challenging things in our earthly life, we won’t have right perspective. We won’t have a spiritual point of view feeding our souls, renewing our minds, and enflaming our hearts before we enter a godless world. And it won’t be long before we fall on our spiritual faces because we came into daily battle not prepared.
In today’s scripture, the Psalmist offers us two simple things to ponder and pray over as great ways to start our day right; in heaven, before the Lord, and spiritually prepared. First, worship. Notice his words, “I will sing, I will sing aloud.” Start the day worshipping God. Even before our feet hit the floor from our beds. Sing of His mercy, sing of His strength, sing of His marvelous person and sing of His steadfast love.
The next thing we observe from the Psalmist which is good practice to start of our day is his proclamation of his confidence in his God – “For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress.” As we look to what a day may hold, its many challenges and trials, it is easy to start the day stressed and anxiety-filled, maybe even fearful. But wait . . . do what the Psalmist does. Remember yesterday. Remember last week. Was God not there as our fortress and refuge? His faithfulness in the past will be His faithfulness in the present. Do what the Psalmist models; voice to God our confidence in His strength for the day as our fortress and refuge.
So, what kind of morning Christians are we? May the Lord help us to be those types which know and practice the importance of spiritual preparation each morning.
PRAYER: “Father, allow me to start each day with my focus on You and not on what I have to do”
QUOTE: “If we start our day in heaven and not the earth, we will be properly prepared for life on earth.”