9

Wake up, my heart! Wake up, O lyre and harp! I will wake the dawn with my song. I will thank you, Lord, among all the people. I will sing your praises among the nations. For your unfailing love is as high as the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens. May your glory shine over all the earth. (Psalm 57:8-11 NLT)

Our Heavenly Father waits for us every morning beneath the brilliant colors of the new day.

He longs for us to wake our hearts up just a little earlier than we have to, so that we might, in turn, wake the dawn with a song of praise meant just for Him.

He longs for us to cherish time alone with Him as much as He does.

But, no matter how good our intentions are, with all the demands of life, it's tough for us to pry our eyes open at the crack of dawn.

Perhaps we can learn something from the Psalmist who wrote this passage.

He began waking his own heart with thanksgiving and praise.

He reminded himself that God's unfailing love is as high as the heavens even when ours falls flat.

He sang about the faithfulness of God that reaches to the clouds when ours would much rather stay hidden beneath the blankets of our bed.

He remembered that his Heavenly Father's glory, much like the sun, rises up and shines over all the earth for all the world to see.

Praise wakes our hearts.

When we remember everything our Heavenly Father does for us and how much we depend on Him, it seems such a small token of gratitude to meet Him in the morning light and give Him a few moments of our time before the world around us whisks away the rest of our day.

Though we may imagine that we are gifting Him with a small token of thanksgiving, we will be the ones who are abundantly blessed by the experience.

May our hearts be woken this morning with praise.

8

But I will call on God, and the Lord will rescue me. Morning, noon, and night I cry out in my distress, and the Lord hears my voice. (Psalm 55:16-17 NLT)

When we call on God, He will rescue us.

Sometimes the Lord will rescue us from our distress, allowing us to escape the situation by completely changing the circumstances around us.

And sometimes the Lord will rescue us through our distress, teaching us to lean on Him and His strength, even in the midst of the worst circumstances, and completely changing us.

But He always rescues us.

And though we may worry that we cry out in our distress too much, He never tires of hearing our pleas for help.

When we go through difficult circumstances in life and our morning prayers barely seem to carry us to noon, our Heavenly Father longs for us to come back to Him.

To cry out for more strength and more courage and more help.

He longs to hear our voice crying out to Him morning, noon and night, and every moment in between.

Continually.

Some days that's exactly what it takes for us to remember that He loves us and He hears us and He will rescue us.

May we remember today that He will rescue us.

7

There is a river -- at its streams delight the city of God, the holy dwelling place of the Most High. God is within her; she will not be toppled. God will help her when the morning dawns. (Psalm 46:4-5 HCSB)

When we become God's child, our body becomes His temple -- the holy dwelling place of the Most High.

Our Father and Creator dwells within us.

He never leaves us.

He never turns His back on us.

Our Father becomes a part of us when we become a part of His church.

No matter what troubles the day may bring.

No matter what forces try to topple us.

God is never further from us than a whispered prayer.

And scripture promises that He will help us when the morning dawns. 

The morning dawns and our Heavenly Father becomes our help when we simply remember that He in all His glorious power is within us.

A part of us.

We can do anything through Him.

We can be anyone through Him

We are stronger than we think we are, simply because He dwells within us.

May we remember today and every day that God is within us.

6

Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act, making your righteousness shine like the dawn, your justice like the noonday. (Psalm 37:6 HCSB)


When we commit our ways to the Lord, we become the Sonshine we are meant to be in this world.
We shine like the dawn when we trust in our Heavenly Father and His plan for our lives.
But trust isn't the easiest thing for us to do.
Our human nature rebels against trust in God.
We don't want anyone besides us to be in charge of our lives -- not even our Heavenly Father.
We prefer to be god of our own lives.
That desire even shows up in our prayers.
We will spend hours telling God exactly what we want Him to do in our lives -- making a heartfelt case for our own plan -- instead of leaning into His will and trusting Him to act in our lives out of His great love for us and His sovereignty.
But today is a new day.
It just might be the perfect day to choose trust and allow our faith to shine like the dawn.
This morning, let's pray the simple, defining prayer of Jesus.
Not my will but thine.
And see what happens.
No matter what troubles the day may bring, let's commit our ways to the Lord and embrace His plan.
Let's trust in the Lord and become as bright as the noonday sun.

May we all shine like the dawn today.