I myself will awake early.
Psalm 57:8
This is said by a person who is constrained by worries and griefs. He will rise early to be saturated with the light of the face of God, before seeing someone’s human face. The Holy Scripture says about many servants of God – Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Samuel, Joshua and others – that they got up early. We also find this word in the New Testament. Our Lord ” in the morning, rising up a great while before day, went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed” (Mark 1:35).
The women mourning for Him came to the Sepulcher “very early” (Mark 16: 2).
“In the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God” (Ex. 16:12), – God said to His people, and the heavenly manna, sent by God, lay in abundance along with the morning dew. But they had to get up from their beds early to collect it.
And now there is heavenly food for the people of God, and now they must be well-fed, if they want to have the strength to resist sin. Every day you are tempted, people upset, irritate or seduce you; every day you yourself are inclined to confuse or offend people, every day you have to work, overcome evil, walk the narrow path without deviation and without hesitation.
Who is capable of this? One who gained strength in the morning, who opened a hungry soul to acquire God’s food and got full. The warrior who is fully armed before entering the battle is able to fight. What, apart from defeat, awaits a disarmed one? He even has no place in the ranks. Early alarm awakens the soldiers to work, when they are fully armed, only then they are ready.
So, let us get up early, and not only for the sake of our earthly deeds, but first of all for God; let us get up early so that He can see that we, before earthly gain, look for the Kingdom of God, that it is important for us to feed ourselves with His word, to receive His guidance for the day ahead. After all, He alone, who knows what is awaiting us, can arm us with what is needed. And don’t say: I can do it later as well. Later there will be worries and troubles, and worldly vanity, and conversations, and quarrels with people. Later – a restless heart, unkind words, sinful thoughts. The heavy realization comes that in one moment you succumbed to sin, in another you acted wrong. Isn’t that because you went into battle with a hungry, unarmed soul?
