Why Must We Rise Early?

Why Must We Rise Early?

That which we wish to lay before new believers now is extremely simple: we must rise early from our bed each day.

The first choice giving evidence of one’s love towards the Lord is the choice between one’s bed and the Lord. If one chooses to love his bed more, he sleeps longer; but if he chooses to love his Lord more, he will rise up a little earlier. Yes, a man has to choose between the bed and the Lord. If you love your bed more, sleep on longer; but if you love the Lord more, you must rise up earlier.

Why must we rise early? Because the early morning is the best time to meet the Lord. Other than those few who have organic diseases of the body, all brothers and sisters should be encouraged to rise early. Most of us do not have organic diseases, but are sick only from loving ourselves too much! If the doctors advise us that we have some organic disease such as tuberculosis or heart trouble, then we should not rise up early. We do not want to go to extremes. Those who are sick, we persuade to rest more. But for most, we wish them to rise as early as possible. Dawn is the best time to meet the Lord, the best opportunity to commune with Him.

Many of God’s servants in the Bible had the habit of early rising. Manna has to be gathered before the sun rises. Anyone who wishes to eat the food God has promised for him must rise up early. As the sun gets hot the manna melts, and then there will be none. Every young believer needs to know that to receive spiritual nourishment before God, to obtain spiritual food, to be spiritually uplifted and to enjoy spiritual communion, he has to rise up a little earlier. If he rises too late, he will lose his food. The sickly Christian life which prevails among God’s children today is less due to any serious spiritual problem than it is to rising up too late in the morning. Do not, therefore, count this a small matter. The spiritual problem of many actually lies in their failure to rise up early in the morning.

It is as if in the early morning before or just as the day begins to dawn, God dispenses His provision of spiritual food and holy communion to His children. Whoever rises late will miss it. Many of God’s children do not lack in consecration, zeal and love, and yet they fail to be good Christians because of getting up too late. Rising early has much to do with spiritual life. I have never met a prayer warrior who rises late, nor have I known anyone close to the Lord who gets up late. All who know God at the very least go to God early in the morning.

"As the door turneth upon its hinges, So doth the sluggard upon his bed" (Prov. 26:14). How does the sluggard act on his bed? He is like a door turning upon its hinges. The slothful person will turn in his bed, but will never leave it. He will turn this way and that way but yet remain in bed. Many people simply cling to their beds. Turning to one side, they find the bed lovely; turning to the other side, they find it still lovely! They love to sleep, to sleep a little longer, and to linger more in bed. Let brothers and sisters notice, however, that if they desire to serve God they must daily rise early.

Whoever purposes before God to rise early will soon experience manifold spiritual profit. His prayer at other times of the day cannot be compared with his early morning prayer. His Bible study at other hours cannot equal that of the morning hour; and his communion with the Lord is never as sweet at other moments as at daybreak. Remember well that the early morning is the best time of the day. We ought to present our best time to God, not to men or to the affairs of the world. He is a fool who spends his whole day in the world and then in the evening, when he is dog-tired, kneels down to pray and read the Bible before retiring to bed. Who can wonder if his prayer, his Bible study and his communion with the Lord are defective? His problem is one of getting up too late in the morning.

Let us get up early to the vineyards; Let us see whether the vine hath budded, And its blossom is open, And the pomegranates are in flower: There will I give thee my love.

S.S. 7:12

Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake right early. I will give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the peoples: I will sing praises unto thee among the nations.

Ps. 57:8-9

Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake right early. I will give thanks unto thee, O Jehovah, among the peoples; And I will sing praises unto thee among the nations.

Ps. 108:2-3

And they gathered it morning by morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted.

Ex. 16:21

O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee. My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh languisheth for thee, In a dry and weary land without water.

Ps. 63:1 (Darby)

When he slew them, then they sought him, and returned and sought early after God.

Ps. 78:34 (Darby)

Oh satisfy us in the morning with thy loving-kindness, That we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Ps. 90:14