Episode #237 Grace-Filled Mornings (Even If You’re Not a Morning Person) – Small Steps, Big Faith

Hey friends, it's Jen, welcome to Good God Talks. Today we're talking about starting our days with God. And I'm going to be honest, I've avoided talking about this topic here on the podcast, mostly because I'm not a morning person. The way I grew up in the churches I grew up in, it was kind of considered more holy to get up really early in the morning to spend time with God. And in my personal conviction and in my own experiences with God, that is not the best habit for me. I don't think that that's the best habit for everyone. I don't even think that there's something more spiritual about specifically having quiet time with God in the mornings.

Now, if that's a great time for you, do that more power to you. But for me, I found that when I would try and get up early with the Lord—even when I would wake up—my heart wasn't there, my mind was still foggy, and I didn't feel like I was able to bring my best to God. I didn't feel like those times with him were as fruitful as they were when I spent focused time with him later in the day, sometimes even in the evenings.

And so I've had kind of mixed feelings about this idea of starting our mornings with God, and that's something God has been talking with me about lately. And so I wanted to bring this passage for us to talk with him about. The verse is from Psalm 143:8.

I'll read it for us in the New Living Translation. It says,

“Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you.” (Psalm 143:8 NLT)

And the truth is, we all need grace in the mornings.

Whether that's when you invest in your quiet time with God or not, we all wake up a fresh each morning with things that are on our hearts and our minds and our calendars.

There are things going on in the world and we could always benefit from hearing again of God's unfailing love for us.

And I do think there's value in acknowledging God and turning our attention to him in the mornings. That might not be when I have my focus time with the Lord with my Bible open. Occasionally it is, but more often it's not.

And even so, I like to greet God in the mornings.

I like to worship him. I like to talk with him about the things that I'm anticipating in my day. I like to start my days with an awareness of him. And I see that on display in this passage here. Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning.

It's not like I want to tell God, I don't need to hear about your unfailing love until my quiet time this afternoon. We all constantly want to hear of God's unfailing love for us. We want to trust him and have him show us where to walk because we're giving ourselves to him.

We also need to hear of God's unfailing love at other times of the day. His Love for us is unfailing. It's not only in the mornings or used up, before we get to lunchtime.

What I see in this passage is the opportunity to spend our days hearing what God would share with us and walking through the day with him, as he equips us to navigate the things that are in our calendars.

And so there's a lot that's packed into this one verse.

Hearing of God's unfailing love, which can come in reading the word. It also comes in times like this, where we engage in back-and-forth conversations with him.

And it's our renewed awareness of his unfailing love every morning, every noon, every evening.

It's the desire that we have to hear of his unfailing love because we're placing our trust in him.
And it's the opportunity for Him to show us where to walk, because we give ourselves to Him.

And so whether this is to prompt you to get up early in the mornings to spend focused time with God, or to talk with Him throughout your day, or to ask Him to talk with you about His unfailing love, I don't really know. But I know that God knows.

And whether you're listening to this episode early in the morning or late at night, we can seize this opportunity to talk with God about what He wants to share with us. And here's a question that you can take to Him:

God, what part of this verse do you want me to focus on? And why?

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

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