Exhortation Station

Psalm 57:7-11
My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises! ⁸ Awake, my glory! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. ⁹ I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to You among the nations. ¹⁰ For Your lovingkindness is great to the heavens and Your truth to the clouds. ¹¹ Be exalted above the heavens, O God; Let Your glory be above all the earth.

When I read this recently, the phrase “I will awaken the dawn” stood out to me like it hadn’t before. It is a cool word picture, if you think about it. David, the psalmist, isn’t waiting for the dawn to wake him up — he’s waking up the dawn! He’s not crawling out of bed groggily, grouchily after pressing the snooze button five times. By the time the sun peers over the horizon, David is already awake and praising Yahweh.

In the Scriptures, rising early is often associated with initiative and preparation. At Yahweh’s instruction, Moses rose early to relay Yah’s word to Pharaoh (Exodus 8:20, 9:12). Joshua rose early to muster the people for battle (Joshua 8:10), as did Jehoshaphat in 2 Chron 20:20. King Hezekiah rose early to direct the restoration of the temple service (2 Chron 29:20). In Mark 1:35, Yeshua rose early to pray.

We see this in daily life as well. Mothers and fathers rise early to care for their children. Farmers rise early to tend their flocks and herds. Military personnel rise early to prepare for battle or begin training exercises. Workers of all kinds rise early to prepare for the day ahead. There is something healthy, I think, about rising early. Have you ever just sat on your porch before dawn and watched the sun come up? There is something special about it.

In Hebrew, there is a close connection between the word for “dawn” and a word rendered as “diligently seek,” “earnestly seek,” or similar in the NASB translation. “Dawn” is the Hebrew “shachar” (Strong’s #H7837) as in Psalm 57:8 — awaken the dawn [shachar]. “Earnestly seek” is also “shachar” in Hebrew (#H7836), the only difference being a single vowel pointer. For example…

Psalm 63:1
O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly [shachar]; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Proverbs 8:17
I love those who love me [wisdom]; And those who seek me diligently [shachar] will find me.

That’s pretty cool! In fact, the King James Version uses the word “early” in place of “earnestly”/”diligently” in the verses above.

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Like many good things in life, rising early can become unhealthy if done in the wrong context or for the wrong reasons. Solomon wisely says…

Psalm 127:1,2 (yes, this psalm was written by Solomon)
Unless YHWH builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; Unless YHWH guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain. ² It is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors; for He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.

This is not, I think, discouraging us from rising early as such. This is reminding us to trust in Yahweh and not in ourselves. If you are continually pushing yourself to the point of losing sleep over your earthly endeavors, it might be time to reevaluate your priorities.

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Let’s not be a drowsy, lethargic people. Let’s rise up early to praise Yahweh. Let’s purpose to do His will from the moment our eyes open. Let’s give Him the first fruits of our strength. Let’s awaken the dawn!