As the account of the plagues continues in Exodus, there is one verse that caught my attention: "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Get up early in the morning'" (Exodus 9:13a). If you are going to be purposeful and express your creativity, you must figure out when to rest and when to work and it seems that the Bible makes a solid case for rising early to get some things done. In this verse, the Lord directed Moses to get to Pharaoh before he got into his day to give him an entire day to think about God's latest ultimatum.
Prior to this instance, we passed over many other early morning references in this study:
- "Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord" (Genesis 19:27).
- "Early the next morning Abimelek summoned all his officials, and when he told them all that had happened, they were very much afraid" (Genesis 20:8).
- "Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar" (Genesis 21:14).
- "Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey" (Genesis 22:3).
- "Early the next morning the men swore an oath to each other" (Genesis 26:31).
- "Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it" (Genesis 28:18).
- "Early the next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them" (Genesis 31:55).
The psalmists wrote "Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early" (Psalm 57:8 KJV) and "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee" (Psalm 63:1 KJV). Finally, we have an important reference in Mark 1:35: "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed." All this does not constitute a mandate from heaven that you must get up early, but it does indicate a pattern of how some people who were mightily used by God approached their day—including the Lord Himself.
How do you structure your days for maximum productivity? Do you rise early or stay up late? When is your most productive time? Your most creative time? Do you use sleep to replenish or to hide from responsibility? Are you in a rhythm as to when you go to bed and when you arise? If you are not a "good" early riser, at least consider the verses presented in this study and then prayerfully consider where you need to make some changes for your own creative good.
Comments