Starting the day with prayer

This is a translation of a scriptural meditation from the Russian book, “Day by Day”:

Scripture: “I will get up early” (Ps: 57, 8)

Meditation:

"This is spoken by a man who is concerned and hemmed in by worries and disappointments. He gets up early to be filled with the Light of the Face of God before seeing any human face. Holy Scripture says about many of God’s servants – Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Samuel, Joshua and others – that they got up early. We also meet this expression in the New Testament. Our Lord “got up very early, went to a deserted place, and prayed there” (Mark: 1, 35)

"The women who were mourning for Him came to the tomb “very early” (Mark: 16, 2).

“ ‘In the morning you will be filled with bread, and you will know that I am the Lord’ (Ex: 16, 12), God said to His people, and together with the morning dew, there was a great abundance of heavenly manna, sent by God. But one had to get up from early to gather it.

"And now there is also heavenly food for God’s people, and now they must be filled if they wish to have the strength to resist sin. Every day you meet temptation, people disappoint, annoy or entice you; every day you yourself tend to disconcert or offend people; every day you must work, conquer evil, follow the narrow path without deviation or hesitation.

"Who is capable of this? The one who has gained strength in the morning, who has opened the hungry soul for receiving God’s food and be filled. That warrior is capable of fighting who is fully armed before entering battle. What awaits one who is unarmed, besides defeat? He has no place in the ranks. An early alarm wakens warriors to act when they are armed – only then are they ready.

“So let us get up early, and not only for our earthly concerns, but, first of all, for God; let us get up early so that He will see that we seek the Kingdom of God more than earthly gain, that we value being filled with His word and accepting his guidance for the coming day. Because He alone, Who knows what lies ahead for us, can arm us with what is necessary. And don’t say, ‘I’ll have time later’. What is ‘later’? Later there will be cares and things to do, hustle and bustle, and conversations and quarrels with people. After which the heart is troubled, words are unkind, minds sinful. And there comes the distressing realization that once again I have given in to sin here, and acted badly there. And isn’t all of this because I have gone to battle with a hungry, unarmed soul?”


And this is what Lewis writes in “Mere Christianity”, Book IV, chapter 8:

“… the real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it. It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. And so on, all day. Standing back from all your natural fussings and frettings; coming in out of the wind.”

Dimitry

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Love will last forever.” (1 Corinthians 13: 4-8)

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