I’m an early riser, insanely early, the stars still shine brightly. “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). For Hebrews the day began at sundown, rest came before work, family before contending with other people. Before you awoke this morning, God was restoring you.
“Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love.” How do you “hear” of God’s steadfast love? It must be what Elijah finally heard after the noise of earthquake and fire, the “still, small voice” of God assuring him it will be well (1 Kings 19:12). The voice so gentle it’s easily drowned out by the babel of news and entertainment on TV and internet. Why do we let them fill the tapes that play in our heads? “In quietness and trust shall be your strength” (Isaiah 30:15).
The psalmist remembered better days in the past. Can you read Psalm 143 and not think of the days before Covid? “I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands” (5). It’s not just pre-Covid I’d like back. It’s all the days of youth, of energy equal to the demands of the day, of sunshine and spring. “Remember the Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, ‘I have no pleasure in them'” (Ecclesiastes 12:1). I disagree. In troubled times, in aging, “We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer.” “I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Answer me quickly, O Lord! My spirit fails!” (6-7).
My Lord Jesus prayed this psalm, this prayer. Probably in the morning. He too was an early riser, under the same stars I see in the darkness. “For your name’s sake, O Lord,” he prayed, “preserve my life! In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble!” (11). His Father answered that prayer. After death, resurrection. After today, a brighter tomorrow. No to that verse from Ecclesiastes, there is pleasure even in these days, turning it all over to God. “Whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s” (Romans 14:8).
Comments