Psalm 119 verses 9 to 16 reads:
How can a young man keep his way pure?
By living according to your word.
I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.
I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
Praise be to you, O LORD;
teach me your decrees.
With my lips I recount
all the laws that come from your mouth.
I rejoice in following your statutes
as one rejoices in great riches.
I meditate on your precepts
and consider your ways.
I delight in your decrees;
I will not neglect your word.
I was reminded of Rich Mullin’s Step By Step, redone so well as a medley with Forever We Will Sing by Michael W. Smith in his Worship Again DVD concert. Psalm 119:10 says, I seek You with all my heart, which jumped out at me alongside Step By Step‘s prechorus line, I will seek You in the morning, and I will learn to walk in Your ways.
The second day of the Crave series reminds me that, even as we are drawn to worship Christ, I am particularly drawn to the mornings. I am a morning person, and waking up at 5:00am or earlier isn’t a problem. I like to believe it’s because there’s no better way to start a day than to spend some time with God to get the day off to a great start. After all, Lamentations 3:22-23 tells us that God’s compassion is new every morning. His mercy runs so rich and deep that we can always start afresh in the morning. When we say “Good morning,” wow, what a great opportunity is presented us to really mean it!
Psalm 119:9 tells us that we keep our way pure by living according to God’s Word. When we start the day off by reading God’s Word, whether in book or audio form, it sets the tone of the day on a reliance on God. Reading God’s Word in the morning allows us to focus on a verse, really meditate on it, pray on it, memorize it… it’s a great opportunity to really get into His Word. Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the Word of God is “living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
When we seek God with our hearts, asking Him to give us strength and wisdom that we may not stray from His commands, to hide His words in our heart, that we may not sin, we allow Him to work deeply within our hearts in a supernatural way. When is the best time to do this? Admittedly, maybe not when our minds are still clouded with sleep. But me, I shake it off, because I know God will set my day right when I worship Him in the morning!
Psalm 119:11-16 may tell us the secret to a pure life is living according to His Word, to meditate on it, to delight in His decrees, to recount it with our lips, to not neglect it at all. For this to happen, we need to set regular time with God. When we crave something so much, we cannot help but look forward to it, and to crave God’s Word is just, Wow, right? I often find my cravings start right when I get up, so what better thing to do than to just enjoy God’s Word, fresh from bed, in the morning?
Good morning, friends! It’s gonna be a great day!
