In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;
in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.
Psalm 5:3 (NIV)
The alarm rings, and a new day begins. As the fogginess of sleep slowly lifts, my mind inevitably turns to the day ahead. Like torrential rain, all the day’s worries and concerns flood my mind, tempting me to scurry back under the covers and shut out the world.
Obligations, concerns, appointments, meetings, deadlines, and a hundred other worries demand my attention, gnawing persistently at my brain. My to-do list never seems to dwindle along with that early-morning clamor of worries and burdens that sets in before I have even stepped out of bed.
Those first few minutes of the day can determine the rest of it; how we approach it, how we feel about it, how we deal with it. That’s why God bids us come before Him each morning, casting upon Him all of our cares and concerns. When we commit our day to God, we’re asking Him to walk with us and empower us. Our heavenly Father wants to share our heavy load, to have us lay before Him all that troubles us so he can equip us with His strength, His patience, His peace, His joy, and His grace.
Think of it like this; if your spouse came to you and expressed a wish to help you share some of the day’s workload, wouldn’t you jump at the offer? My response would be, “Here’s a list, honey, go for it!”
Why, then, are we so slow to do the same with our heavenly Father? He’s waiting for us, ready to take on the day, prepared to help us cope with whatever the present day holds.
Thought: “We cannot avoid the burdens of life, but we do have a choice as to whether we carry them on the strength of our own backs or yoke ourselves to our Lord who has promised to get under the load with us and make our burden light.” – Al Cadenhead
For further reading:
- Psalm 88:13
- Psalm 119:147
- Psalm 143:8
- Mark 1:35