ANTICIPATING DAWN
Have you ever noticed how often the Bible returns to mornings? It happens too often to be a coincidence. This study asks a simple question, why does Scripture keep bringing us back to this one hour of the day, and what might it be trying to tell us?
NEW EVERY MORNING
God’s love toward you does not wait for you to earn it, rather He meets us fresh every single morning regardless of how yesterday went.
Lamentations 3:22-23
The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Psalm 30:5
For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
Psalm 143:8
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.
Isaiah 33:2
O LORD, be gracious to us; we wait for you. Be our arm every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble.
Psalm 59:16
But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your mercy in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress.
Have you been treating God’s love as something you need to earn rather than something already waiting for you the moment you wake?
BEFORE THE DAY BEGINS
This section is not about being a morning person, it is about who or what gets your attention before anything else does.
Mark 1:35
And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.
Psalm 5:3
O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.
Psalm 63:1
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
Psalm 119:147
I rise before dawn and cry for help; I hope in your words.
Be honest, what usually gets your attention first each morning, and what does that reveal about your priorities?
DAILY SUSTENANCE
God did not design provision to be hoarded, he designed it to be received again each morning, which means dependence is not a failure, it is the point.
Exodus 16:4
Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.’
Exodus 16:21
Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted.
Deuteronomy 8:3
And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
Matthew 6:11
Give us this day our daily bread.
Philippians 4:19
And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
God promises to supply your needs, not your wants, not your stockpile. What need are you currently facing where you are tempted to rely on your own supply rather than God?
WHY DELAY?
Each of the people in this section received a word from God and did the same thing with it, they got up and obeyed before hesitation had a chance to talk them out of it.
Genesis 22:3
So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
Job 1:5
And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, ‘It may be that my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.’ Thus Job did continually.
Joshua 3:1
Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and they set out from Shittim and came to the Jordan, he and all the sons of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over.
Genesis 24:54
And he and the men who were with him ate and drank, and they spent the night there. When they arose in the morning, he said, ‘Send me away to my master.’
What is God already asking you to do that you keep putting off, and what feeling, fear, uncertainty, or comfort, is behind that delay?
COMING OUT OF THE DARK
This is where the study stops describing a pattern and starts revealing its source, every mercy, every provision, every act of obedience was preparing for this one morning.
John 20:1
Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
Malachi 4:2
But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.
John 8:12
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’
2 Peter 1:19
And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
Revelation 22:16
I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.
Where in your life do you need to stop living in the dark, and start living in the light of what the resurrection already provided?
HEAR OUR PRAYER
Psalm 130
1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!
2 O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
3 If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.
5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
6 my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.
7 O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.
8 And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
What has this study changed in how you now view mornings and its connection to God?
What will you be doing tomorrow morning?
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
© Photo by René Boecking
