First Light

I wasn’t sure I liked what it said.

My pastor suggested reading Psalm 63 as a daily practice during Lent. I embarked on it with anticipation, certain that I’d have the whole thing memorized by Easter just from reading it consistently. Day in and day out, I was pricked by just the first verse, the first few words:

You, God, are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
— Psalm 63:1a NIV

The word earnestly was my sticking point. It seemed to be the critical word in the sentence and yet I was uncertain of its intended meaning. I turned to the other translations I commonly read (NLT and ESV), and found the same word there. Rooting around in other versions, the New King James offered another word in its place:

O God, You are my God;
Early will I seek You;
— Psalm 63:1 NKJV

Now early and earnestly have fairly different meanings in my mind. And I knew which one I preferred.

The imperfect tense of this Hebrew verb translated as seek has connotations of time, thus seeking God early, like the dawn. In English, the translation requires two words: seek and early. In the original language, it’s just one word: shachar.

I’ve never been a stickler for ‘quiet times’ being first thing in the morning — I just hope that we do meet with Him daily. Perhaps that’s because my brain doesn’t awake as quickly as my body does; it’s easier for me to go for a run in the wee hours of the morning than it is to internalize the meaning of a Scriptural passage. Yet as I ruminated on this verse, I was reminded of the Biblical concept of ‘first fruits’ as it relates to giving and tithing.

One of the principles in giving God our first fruits lies in the belief that He will sustain us. Instead of waiting until the end of the season to see how the crops produced before giving their tithe, the Israelites trusted God in advance to meet their needs and gave out of the first harvest. This was an expression of trust in Him regardless of what the remainder of the growing season would produce.

Especially when my children were much younger, I decided that early wake times to spend with the Lord weren’t feasible for me. Sleep was a precious commodity. Little people waking at all hours of the night for feedings, potty trips (or accidents), vomiting, nightmares and the like made for far too many disruptions to my sleep cycle. I felt justified in sleeping for the full duration permitted me by my precious children.

Yet that mindset flew in the face of what God tells us about giving from our first fruits.

Reading Psalm 63, and especially that first verse, convinced me of it. Rising early to meet with the Lord — not because I am rested, but because He is worthy — is an expression of trust that He will supply what I need to get through my day. Waiting until the end of the day (the final harvest) to give to God from the portion of my time and energy that remains, is antithetical to the trust principle involved in giving from first fruits.

Now the alarm rings a little earlier to give God the first fruits of my time, my day. The sky outside is darker, the house quieter. My intellectual faculties seem less sharp when applied to the Word, and my prayers commensurately foggier. But I’m operating on trust: trust that God speaks as well in the dark as in the day. Trust that though I may be tired, He will sustain me through the day.

He hasn’t failed me yet.

Friend, hear grace. Please don’t misinterpret my words here as a dogmatic stance on early morning quiet times. Rather it is merely an expression of how God impressed this on me. He wants to hear from you always — no matter the hour.
Seek Him earnestly if not early.