A new day . . .

Waking early, I didn’t want to get up. The trees outside the window were stretching in the breeze and joyfully waving at the Lord. I still didn’t want to get up. The temperature had cooled from 28C when we went to bed to a lovely 21C, but I still didn’t want to get up. For a long time, my mind wandered until I realized I was not thinking about the Lord. I tried a silent version of “This is the day the Lord has made” and without much enthusiasm I finally got out of bed.

Breakfast and a few chores brought me to my computer and devotional reading, but before that I turned to the daily selection for reading through the Bible this year. It was the story of Elijah and how God used him to prove to the Baal worshippers that there is only one God. Then the evil Jezebel threatened his life and he ran like a scared rabbit. This reminded me that pastors often struggle with Mondays because they served the Lord on Sunday and were attacked by the enemy in their fatigue.

I didn’t do anything big or important in my mind on Sunday, but realized the devil thought otherwise. He was hovering over me as the spirit of discouragement and depression. I know that the only way to fight him junk is by putting on my spiritual armor and praising the Lord. As I opened my devotional reading for today, this is the passage God gave:

“My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.” (Psalm 63:5–8)

This reminder blesses me, as does Tozer’s words. He says, “If we could only grasp the fact that God’s Word is more than a book! It is the revelation of divine truth from the person of God Himself. It has come as a divine communication in the sacred Scriptures. It has come to us in the guidance and conviction imparted by the divine Spirit of God within our beings. It has been modeled for us in Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word and the eternal Son . . . Every problem that touches us is answered in the Book.”

How true! Elijah did a great thing in the power of God and was overwhelmed afterward by a smaller threat. Should I wonder if I do a little thing in the power of God that I am immobilized by a very small thing? God does not sleep but neither does my spiritual enemy. He spends the night either pushing my buttons with unpleasant dreams or thinking up ways to keep me from loving and serving God in the morning.

How is this practical? Never underestimate the importance of remembering God when my eyes first open, of meditating on Him whenever I’m awake even during the night, and of praising Him and singing for joy as He upholds me. Then instead of groaning and dragging myself out of bed, I can be alert and happy, ready for whatever the day brings.

^^^^^^^^^^

Thank You Jesus for grace that brings my dull and drowsy mind away from “I don’t want to” and for Your Word that recharges me and readies me for a new day.