Awaken The Dawn... No Matter What Time It Is
Awaken The Dawn
Awake, my soul!
Awake, harp and lyre!
I will awaken the dawn.
-Psalms 57:8 and 108:2.
These lines of these two Psalms express an idea shared throughout the Bible that the early morning is a great time to pray. And that if you life in the palace you can find a good place to play your instruments while it's still dark... if you're the king, no one can say "WILL YOU KNOCK IT OFF?" I don't play harp or lyre, and I'm thinking my wife and everyone else of Pennsylvania Street is grateful that I'm not applying this to my trumpet. That would be true even when they're all awake.
I'll be honest: I have typically had trouble with these "awaken the dawn" lines. People ask me "does that mean you're a night person?" No, not really. "Oh, so you're a morning person?" Well, as you can see, generally not. I'm a sleep person. I love sleep. While my wife was pregnant, I didn't feel anxiety about raising a daughter, about teaching her to speak or about protecting her. I was worried about what life would be like when I couldn't sleep as much as I wanted to. [Newsflash: it's been fine.]
The problem with "waking the dawn" is, if we're being literal, getting up while it's still dark. My experience has been that every time I actually peel myself away from my bed, get that first cup o joe into my system, and get with the Lord, I can't figure out why I don't do this every day. But then, the next time I'm in my bed... it's soooo nice.... and unlike other forms of idolatry, you can't smash the idol of sleep. God designed our bodies to need to rest for a portion of every day (and for a day of every week, a thought for another time).
What happens for me when I DON'T wake that darn dawn, when the dawn wakes me, is that generally my soul doesn't wake up with my body. I don't tune in to the rhythms of the Lord. I just wake up and start doing what I need to do to get ready for my first meeting.
Maybe you're reading this and the dawn woke you today. Maybe you were up long before the sun rose, but your soul is still asleep. Whether it's 10am, 4pm, 11pm or somwhere in between, it's a good time to stop, take a deep breath, and wake up your soul. Just pray the words of these psalms: "Awake, my soul!"
What does that mean? The best example I can think of comes from the first couple months of marriage. I still feel this way, but in those early months it was overwhelming every time I thought about the fact that this amazing woman had married me. That was most pronounced on those mornings when we could wake up at about the same time. I was shocked, astounded, and overjoyed to be laying there next to her. It didn't matter what we talked about... just that I could lay there and say to the human being I loved beyond my capacity for love: "good morning" was the best wake up of all. To lay there in the quiet of morning and look into her eyes, to love and be loved, that's how the soul was made to wake up.
The only thing better than what I've just described is doing that with Jesus.
Wake your soul (no matter the time), and say hello to the one who loves you beyond any human capacity for love.
Good morning, Jesus. Thanks for loving me. What do you want to do with me today?