Those Dawn Greetings


Psalm 119:145-152 – Qoph
145With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O Lord! I will keep your statutes.
146I call to you; save me, that I may observe your testimonies.
147I rise before dawn and cry for help; I hope in your words.
148My eyes are awake before the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promise.
149Hear my voice according to your steadfast love; O Lord, according to your justice give me life.
150They draw near who persecute me with evil purpose; they are far from your law.
151But you are near, O Lord, and all your commandments are true.
152Long have I known from your testimonies that you have founded them forever.

This stanza of Psalm 119 challenges me. I have long held in high esteem those who are able to rise before dawn to spend time with the Lord. And while I admire that, emulating it has always been a struggle. There are most certainly many times when I am up in the middle of the night when sleep is distant, and those can be sweet times of prayer and solitude. But making it a habit has eluded me. Honestly, I want to make excuses for what feels like a fault – but there aren’t any good ones.

So does that mean that for those of us who don’t get up before dawn for prayer and Bible meditation our devotional lives are void? I certainly hope not – and I don’t believe they are. We walk with God all day long and those prayer uttered before dawn are no more powerful than those uttered at 10:00am or 10:00pm. Maybe I’m deluded, but I believe God has created each of us differently and so He’s cool with our devotional life whenever it happens (and maybe even however it happens.) I know people who meditate on God’s Word with colored pencils and paints in hand. I know people who meditate on God’s Word on the treadmill. (I’m tempted to make less than kind comments about the craziness of that – but I won’t.)

So, if you are able to greet the dawn every morning with the Lord on your mind – that’s pretty cool. But if you give Him your time and focus at some other point during that day – that’s cool too!

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