Thinking in the Other Direction
So those are my six guesses for why so many of us are drawn almost addictively to consult with our phones when we wake up in the morning—candy motives and avoidance motives.
But think about this. Suppose you open your phone immediately in the morning. What if you are the first one to horrible news? Or what if in your search for ego-candy, you find ego-acid, and people have hated you overnight? And what if you spend five minutes getting yourself happily entertained in the morning rather than facing the responsibilities of the day immediately, and you find at the end of those five minutes that they have drug you down into a silly, demeaning, small-minded, hollow, immature frame of mind?
Was it worth it?
And what if you take five minutes to avoid the boredom and responsibility and hardship of the day only to find at the end of those five minutes of avoidance, you are spiritually, morally and emotionally less able to cope with the reality of the day?
Was it worth it?
What we want in our morning routine is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We want something that gives us a zeal for the glory of Christ for the day’s work. We want to be strengthened to face whatever the day may bring. We want something that gives us joyful courage to resolve to count others better than ourselves and pursue true greatness, like Jesus said, by becoming the servant of all (Matthew 20.26–28″ data-version=”esv” data-purpose=”bible-reference”>Matthew 20:26–28). That is our real agenda in the morning.
We Need Our Mornings
Very few of us wake up strengthened to do all of those glorious things. So the new course for the morning, I think, is laid out in the Psalms.
O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice;
in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch. (Psalm 5:3)
Let the first thing out of your mouth in the morning, while you are still on the pillow, be a cry to God: “I love you, Lord. I need you, Lord. Help me, Lord.” That is the first cry out of my mouth in the morning. I need you again today. Then, prepare a sacrifice and watch. I think that sacrifice is my body and my attention devoted to him.
I watch for the Lord to show up and do what? What am I watching for?
Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love,
for in you I trust.
Make me know the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul. (Psalm 143:8)
So I am on the lookout for the steadfast love of God. And I am on the lookout for it in his word.
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. (Psalm 90:14)
So we watch in God’s inspired word for revelations of his steadfast love and his guidance for our lives with a profound sense of satisfaction in our souls that he is beautiful and he cares for us.
My eyes are awake before the watches of the night,
that I may meditate on your promise. (Psalm 119:148)
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you. (Psalm 139.17–18" data-version="esv" data-purpose="bible-reference">Psalm 139:17–18)
Before you go to bed tonight, make some choices and some plans to free yourself from the candy addictions and the habits of avoidance that have been ruining the strengthening potential of your mornings.
Piper: “I feel like I have to get saved every morning. I wake up and the devil is sitting on my face.”
