First Thing in the Morning

Psalm 59:16-17 says, “But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress. O my Strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love.” (ESV).


This Psalm was written by David when Saul sent men to watch his house in order to kill him. Previous verses in this Psalm are David’s heart crying out to the Lord for protection from his enemies and for the Lord to see him through the night. Then, in such a bold show of faith, he describes praising the Lord in the morning. His heart is assured that the Lord will carry him through this trial because he always has before. His past faithfulness demands our present trust.


What if we made singing praises to the Lord our first and foremost activity in the morning? The life-changing hope it would bring to our spirits would be immeasurable and the joy our worship brings to the heart of the Father is unfashionable. To remind ourselves of the Lord’s faithfulness and love in the morning before we began our day would set the tone for our entire day. To spend time in the presence of the Lord before we spent time in the presence of anyone or anything else would give us a kingdom mindset. And at night, especially those nights that we desperately cry out to the Lord to see us through them, with all the shaky yet bold faith we can muster, we can say confidently, “Tomorrow morning I will sing your praises and thank you for your protection, thank you for seeing me through this.”


I challenge you to make morning worship a daily priority in your life, even just this weekend, and see how just prioritizing His presence, prioritizing giving thanks and praise before your day even begins, sets your mind on things above and illuminates even further the glorious hope and victory we have in Christ during the darkest nights.