“O satisfy us early with Thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” Psalm 90:14
The supreme example of rising early to meet God is found in the Lord Jesus, who rose early and went into a solitary place to meet the Father. There has never been any one so deliberately, actively engaged in the work of God, in constant communion with the Father, as the Lord Jesus. Often surrounded by crowds of people, faced with impossible challenges almost hourly from a human standpoint, He was totally absorbed in the mission for which He had been called, and for which He had come into this world. With all the pressure upon Him, the redemption of the lost, and the formation of his inner circle of followers, the disciples, He would not let faulter His profound, precious fellowship with His Father. Hence, while all others were asleep, He would rise and go to a solitary place there to pray and wait upon His Father in blessed, joyful fellowship.
When we read the Psalms, we discover that David also was a man of the early hour. In Pslam 63, he would write: “O God, Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee: my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land, were no water is: to see Thy power and Thy glory, so as I have seen Thee in the sanctuary.” (v.1,2) David is a man whose primary pursuit in life was to know God, commune with God, worship and serve Him. His faith was not just a passing “possibility” to know Him, but a certain exercise with the conviction of meeting Him in the early hour, especially being conscious of his imperative need to do so. It was there, in that place of aloneness, in the undistracted freshness of the morning, that David’s longing heart was to see the Lord’s power and glory, as he had seen it before, and now moreso. David would discover the lovingkindness of God, revealed to him by the Spirit, and that this lovingkindness of God was better than life. He found satisfaction of heart and mind, remembering God in the night watches, and thus, rejoiced in God. Such was the vision of God he found, in Christ, too great to be described in words. This produced in him a greater desire, and hunger, to Christ. As He pursued his objective, he was conscious of God’s faithful, sustaining hand.
Moses, in writing his great Psalm 90, would speak not only of the seeking of God in the early hour, but receiving from Him that which he so desperately needed. He wrote: “O satisfy us early with Thy mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” (v.14) It is true that we might interpret the word “early” to mean “quickly,” but at the same time we are confronted with the great truth that the Lord Jesus puts before us in the Gospels: “…and Thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” (Matt. 6:6) There is in that place of aloneness with God, in that solitude of communion with Him, a possibility and potential, of enormous blessing which God can give, and desires to do so. It is the revelation of Himself to the heart, not just to the mind where truth must be grasped, but in the emotions, and will, the depths of the soul. Christ truly does come into the heart to sup with the believer who is seeking Him, and will satisfy His heart.
Going back to Moses’ psalm, we find that the early meeting is sought that one may be glad. Why? The joy of the Lord is our strength. It is as we rejoice in Him, being glad in him, that we are strengthened to believe. It is then in that right relationship with God that we can pray, “Let Thy work appear unto Thy servants, and Thy glory unto their children.” (v.16) Christ’s beauty sought upon the life will come, and the establishment of one’s works will be certain.
Dear Father, Meet us early daily. In Jesus’ name, Amen.