Putting a Night Owl to Rest
God, You are my God;
Early will I seek you.
Psalm 63:1
Why does so much of the Bible mention seeking God early? King David got up early. Joshua got up early. Jesus got up early. His followers got up early. “Very early in the morning…they came to the tomb.” Mark 16:2. What is so important about getting up early? What about us night-owls? The ones who get their best work done at night when everyone else is sleeping? I know I can’t stay up all night AND get up early in the morning, it just isn’t possible.
I’ve struggled with this for years, fought it actually. I wanted to skip over passages in the Bible with the word “early” and just keep reading the other stuff – the stuff that happens later in the day.
There was only one real reason I didn’t like those early rising words – I knew God wanted me to change. He was asking me to go to bed earlier, and rise earlier in the morning. Over the years of raising my family, I began seeing why this change was necessary.
I’ve decided I must get up early, rise before the others. If I don’t, I cannot give the Lord my whole being. I cannot give Him my full attention as others start to take little pieces of me; start asking for this and that. Fires begin to break out from little sparks of need, and I soon become a firefighter putting out the flames that threaten to consume the day and burn up the time.
I cannot run backwards, back to the day’s beginning and start again. So I must rise up early and meet the Lord there at the dawning of it. I am in one piece then. I have more to give Him (my whole heart, soul, mind and strength) before I give away pieces to others. He does require that I give to them, but not before He meets with me and gives me what they need (and what I need). Not before He fills me with Himself; that I may pour out from His abundance.
Then the sparks of need will come and they will be quenched, not by me, but by the living water He has poured into me, from His deep well that never runs dry. That is the only way fragments of me will bring life to them, when they aren’t really pieces of me, but Him who gives life; abundant life.
So I will determine to seek Him in the morning. Then I will turn to the day and say –
BRING IT ON!
Amen, well said.
What a timely post – God speaking to me as I questioned whether to move quickly through my early morning time with Him to rush to a yoga class that starts at a new time. As much as I wanted to tend to my physical needs, I was reminded after reading your post that my early morning time with God is the only way I can be filled with His presence – choosing not to rush through and tackle the rest of the day and as you expressed, “Not before He fills me with Himself; that I may pour out from His abundance.”
I can meet those physical needs at another time. It is important to me to keep my body in good physical condition to move through life and accomplish God’s will. But it is vital that I allow the time with God to prepare me for the day ahead, to “pour out from His abundance” as you said.
Thank you Charlotte for the lovely post.
This is a beautiful post!
I have been struggling with making some ‘time changes” in my life. Just yesterday I said to a friend, “I wish I could function on about three hours sleep…then I could be a morning person AND a night owl!” But, of ocurse, that won’t happen.
I love how you put into words the (very good) reasons for rising early. Before everyone else. Before the day starts dividing you. Might be just the encouragement I need! Thank you!!
My first born is 6 and for 5 of those years (we added 2 more babies in these 6 years) I was not able to get up early. Oooh I longed too. It was a very hard time during those infant years with my husband working away a lot and no family to help me. Finally, last January I was able to began getting up early. I love it. I get up before my family does and do my prayer and Bible study. It is so wonderful and helps me so much. Thank you for encouraging us!
Powerful message, Charlotte. I always have been a morning person, but getting up at 4am every day is sometimes hard. But I know it is good to sit at the feet of Jesus first thing in the morning so that I receive His strength for the day ahead.
In bible days they didn’t have electric lights to help you stay up and do some of your activities. The sun was the ONLY light source they had back then, unless they lit an oil lamp to read by. Today the world keeps going around the clock, and people who work weird shifts (or work late at home) sleep when they can fit those hours in. As long as you don’t have small children or a job that requires you to be in by a certain hour, it doesn’t make that much difference. God will hear your prayer just as much at 6 p.m. as 6 a.m. He’s open 24/7.