“O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory. Awake, lute and harp! I will awaken the dawn” Psalm 108:1-2

“If night is your best time, give God your best! I don’t believe everyone’s secret life with God is identical. We are highly unique, and the Lord loves the particular spice that comes from the fragrance of your own individuality. So give Him the portion of your day that works best for your personality. For most of us, the morning represents ‘our best.’ It’s the time when, for the majority, our minds are clearest and most alert.

“I’ve heard from more than one person that it is helpful to them to have a set time and set place for meeting with God. By establishing consistency in both the time and place, they are able to go deeper in their relationship with Christ. It is supposed by some that when God came to commune with Adam and Eve ‘in the cool of the day’ (Genesis 3:8), it was a reference to the morning.

“David was resolute—‘steadfast’ in his heart—about the priority of the secret place. He had a constancy of fervency; his zeal for seeking God was unabated and consistently hot. Even as God’s love toward David was steadfast, David’s love for God was steadfast. He performed his ‘daily vows’ (Psalm 61:8) by steadfastly committing himself to seeking God in the early morning hours, the time when he would ‘awaken the dawn.’

“Jesus also modeled a pattern of rising early to pray. ‘Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed’ (Mark 1:35). The context of that statement is fascinating. It’s referring to Sunday morning; the day before had been an extremely busy Sabbath. He had taught in the synagogue, healed Peter’s mother- in-law, visited with the group over dinner, and then after 6:00 p.m. on Saturday evening (at the close of the Sabbath) Jesus was suddenly bombarded with a multitude of people who were swarming Him for a healing touch.

“Could it be that the intensity of the previous evening’s ministry gave Him an even greater urgency to be with His Father in the morning? One thing seems clear: It wasn’t an especially long night…Even when His body craved more sleep, Jesus knew His true source of revitalization would not be on His back but on His face. Jesus’ commitment to the secret place was profoundly prophesied by David in Psalm 110:3, “In the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning, You have the dew of Your youth.” The secret place was Jesus’ ‘womb of the morning.’ It was the place where life incubated, where creativity germinated, where inspiration gestated, where power percolated.”—Bob Sorge

My Prayer

“Give me the grace to continue and consistently meet You Lord in the womb of the morning. It’s in this early morning encounters that Your life in me is refreshed and renewed. Don’t allow me slack in this devotional discipline—rather, make me wake earlier and spend longer time with You—even as Jesus did. Amen.”

The Challenge

Seek a specific time and place to regularly fellowship with God, particularly in the early hours of each day, and in a lonely place!