5

Sing to the Lord, all you godly ones! Praise His holy name. For His anger lasts only a moment, but His favor lasts a lifetime! Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning. (Psalm 30:4-5 NLT)

God's undeserved favor -- His grace -- lasts a lifetime, and that's precisely why joy is able to visit us even in the midst of the darkest nights.

Joy comes with the morning light of God's grace.

When we open our eyes to His grace.

The grace of God brightens even the very darkest moments of our lives even though it may not always seem that way.

In the sorrow of the night, the blackness around us is clearly visible.

The light of God's grace, on the other hand, is often much more difficult to see in the night sky.

To find joy, we must purposefully search for the light in the midst of the dark moments of our lives.

But that light can always be found.

Even when it seems that our world is crashing down around us, grace shimmers like the faintest star in the night sky.

There is always something to be grateful for.

There is always a reason to praise His holy name.

When we sing the Lord's praises in the darkest moments of our lives, His light shines in our hearts like the morning sun.

And joy comes to us.

May joy come to each one of us today.

4

Listen to my voice in the morning Lord, Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly. (Psalm 5:3 NLT) 

David was anointed king over Israel about 15 years before he saw God's promise fulfilled in his life.

When he wrote this Psalm much later in his life, he was well-acquainted with long waits.

Yet, he still brought all his requests to his Heavenly Father in the early hours of the day and then waited expectantly for a response.

When we bring our requests to God we want a yes, but we know that even a no, can sometimes prove to be a blessing.

But when God's response to our requests is wait it's easy for us to lose our passion for Him and wait with growing disappointment instead of expectancy.

We quickly grow frustrated.

Sometimes we even move forward on our own.

When we find ourselves waiting it seems the most difficult thing in life to do.

There are things in my own life that God has promised, but I have yet to see fulfilled.

Some days the wait seems never-ending.  

But I've found that our Heavenly Father's response of not right now is usually followed by a but when we wait expectantly in His presence for a little while longer. 

God's response doesn't ever end with wait. 

He continues.

He comforts us in our disappointment, or He gives us some other work to distract us. 

Sometimes He simply reminds us that His plan will be worth the wait. 

The best part of His response comes after the wait.

May our requests be few and our waits be short. 

3

What is man, that You should exalt him, That You should set Your heart on him, That You should visit him every morning, And test him every moment? (Job 7:17-18 NKJV)

Job was a little upset with God when He asked this question.

He was more focused on the test than the Teacher, but even in the midst of his pain, he remembered that God sets His heart on humanity and visits him in the morning. 

Our heavenly Father sets His heart on you and I.

And He patiently waits for us to visit with Him in the morning -- every morning.

When we meet God in the earliest hours of the day, before the darkness of the world around us has had a chance to settle on our hearts, we feel His love and sense His presence in a unique way.

In the quietness of the dawn, His still small voice sounds louder.

And, it is in the morning visit that He prepares us for the tests of the coming day.

Job was right, we are tested every moment.

Our days are filled with simple multiple choice questions that we answer whether we realize it or not.

We choose anger or grace in moments of disappointment.

We choose joy or bitterness in moments of pain.

We choose hope or anxiety in moments of fear.

And every test we face is influenced by one of the first choices we make each day.

In the earliest moments of each brand new day, we choose to meet our heavenly Father and allow

Him to prepare us for the tests ahead, or we choose to tackle the day in our own strength.

May we all choose wisely today.

2

Have you ever commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the east? Have you made daylight spread to the ends of the earth, to bring an end to the night's wickedness? (Job 38:12-13 NLT)

These rhetorical questions were intended to cause Job to reflect on the infinite power of his heavenly Father -- and on his lack of power.

It's easy for me to see why God chose to use the sunrise as an example of His own might in His conversation with Job.

Every single time I see the sun peek up over the horizon I'm reminded that the morning has, once again, appeared at God's command.

And I'm struck with the knowledge that I have absolutely no power over it.

If I did, there are some days that I would slow down and savor.

And there are other days that I would choose to experience on fast forward.

But not one of us can cause the dawn to rise in the east or make the daylight spread to the ends of the earth.

In our own power, we are completely incapable of bringing an end to the wickedness of the night that sometimes seems to engulf us.

Fortunately, we know the One who can.

We know the One brings light into our lives every day.

The sunrise is just the beginning.

Our Heavenly Father commands the brightest light to rise up from even the darkest days of our lives.

And the more conscious we are of our own lack of power, the more likely we are to catch a glimpse of His.

May we all glimpse God's power in our lives today.

1

Then God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day" and the darkness "night." And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day. (Genesis 1:3-5 NLT)

Just a few verses into scripture, the very first sunrise paints the sky.

At the dawn of creation our Heavenly Father spoke and sunlight warmed the Earth.

From that moment on, the source of our sunlight has served many purposes, but perhaps the most significant is that, like all of creation, it testifies of it's Creator.

The awe-inspiring sight of the sun points humanity toward God.

Perhaps that's why He beckons us to meet Him for a quiet time of fellowship in the beauty of the dawn when we can see the sun rise up in all it's glory.

Our Heavenly Father waits for us every morning beneath the brilliant colors He has painted in the sky.

Then, when we rise up in the early hours of the brand new day to say good morning to the sunshine and to Him, He wraps us in His warm embrace.

Our Father whispers to us in the streams of light that dance on our upturned faces.

If we listen closely, we'll hear Him say, Good morning Sonshine. 

We are the light of His life, simply because we love Him back.

The same One who spoke the sun into existence created you and I to be His Sonshine.

He created us to be the light of the world.

To shine in the darkness and point humanity towards our Father.

To be like the sun.

And, most importantly, like the Son.

May we all shine brightly today.