Last Sunday morning while on the way to church, I was noticing how many little squirrels were skittering about. In fact, my husband Rob almost jumped out of his skin when one darted out in front of us. I was thinking about how God created the animals, and they are only doing what comes natural for them. They have no idea of the danger of the unknown, the vehicles and the roads that man created. We saw several squirrels that didn’t make it across the road.
That morning, I was listening to the birds singing shortly after 5 a.m. It is like they are conversing with God first thing in the morning before they do anything else. It seems that animals are the most active in the early morning hours. I call this time the “cool of the day.” I know that some commentaries say the cool of the day is in the evening when God walked with Adam and Eve, and maybe it was. I just know that, here, the early morning is the coolest part of the day, so that is my cool of the day.
Genesis 3 starts out with the serpent tricking Eve into eating the apple. I look at the serpent like the world who doesn’t know Jesus. When Eve got up that morning, instead of looking to the Lord, she listened to the serpent and was taken in by his lies. The rest of her day went downhill after that.
Have you noticed how many times in the Word it talks of seeking God during the first part of the day? David says, “Early will I seek You, Lord.” Even then, they probably wanted to surround themselves with His presence and His loving kindness before they had to face the problems of the day. They knew their strength came from the Lord.
Personally, I find that if I spend the first part of my day talking with God and feasting on his Word, my day goes a lot easier. I am not saying that I won’t have trouble during the day, but when problems arise, I am more able to handle them. I walk in His strength and not my own. The Word of God is like the breakfast of champions.
God calls us all champions — He says we have the victory. When athletes are training, they rise early in the coolness of the day and start practicing to become champions.
We too should give ourselves time to take the first part of our day and spend it with God. Let Him build us up to face the day in His strength. Whether your day starts in the morning or at night, give the first part to Him. Don’t give the world a chance to trick you or tear you down before your day even begins.
Wake up each day praising the Lord and giving Him thanks first, and see how much better your days will be.