Put Down Your Phone, Write Out a Psalmਨਮੂਨਾ

There’s something about the morning

What strange things we are, time-bound creatures thrown into a world not of our own making. A verse I’ve been chewing on lately is from another Psalm. It sends chills down my spine:

The heavens are the LORD’s heavens
But the earth he has given to human beings (Psalm 115:16, NRSV).

Many of us feel this intently when we look at the news. The schemes of politicians, the rancour and noise, as women and men vie for power to wield for good and perhaps for evil, are constant.

But it’s so fleeting. Think of how certain politicians dominate almost every news headline around politics when they're in power. Then poof! Within a month, they're forgotten once they are out of office. At least gone from the headlines.

The antics of Earth—wonderful and wild as they are—first, are given. Secondly, they are the appetizer, not the meal. And they are fleeting.

Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, David seems to shout back in Psalm 119:142. The eternal nature and quality of God’s unchanging character, which David rattles off—righteous, faithful, everlasting, true— orient us in a world captured by competing kingdoms. A world with real foes. A world with trouble and anguish (143).

And in this fleeting world, under the banner of the eternal heavens, a world in which both heaven and earth collide as God comes down and the heart is drawn up, there’s something about the morning.

David rises before dawn, watches in the night

David seems to be in constant meditation mode. Perhaps he’s a helpful case study for us of that impossible exhortation by Paul to “pray without ceasing” in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (NRSV) in which we’re invited into a perpetual conversation with God.

I’m fascinated byDavid's habit of meditation “before each watch of the night” (Psalm 119:148, NRSV). Like the Greeks and Romans, the Jewish people divided the night into military watches. At these times, sentinels were on the lookout, alert on the walls of cities for any herald or enemy. In David’s lifetime, there were three watches divided into four hour chunks of time: from sunset to 10 pm; from 10 pm to 2 am; from 2 am to sunrise.

How interesting to view prayer and meditation in these terms. As a lookout. A careful eye on our surroundings. As a stance to proactively guard against enemy attack. To wait and look for any herald or message from an ally.

Other great heroes of the Bible prayed, meditated, and attacked during these watches. Gideon’s small army of men who lapped up water like dogs saw supernatural victory during the middle watch (see Judges 7:19).

It was all through the terrible night that Hebrew families huddled by the shores of a sea with an enemy army behind them. The waters began to part as a strong wind blew when Moses stretched out his hand, waters that divided so the great exodus from slavery into freedom could occur. Redemption unfolded with each step on dry ground, then:

During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion (Exodus 14:24, NRSV).

If this big Psalm teaches us anything, it teaches us to wake. To cry out. At any time. David models this authentically for us.

What does David do in the early hours? He cries to God for help. He petitions heaven. He puts hope in God’s word. He meditates (147-149). The entire Psalm is a workshop on how we can pray and meditate at any hour, especially in the quiet pockets of time we can find.

As a busy dad, husband, and creative, I understand why the early morning or middle of the night makes sense. (Name all your roles here _____________________. I’m sure you understand this too!)

Jeremiah later takes up this all-hours invitation and calls people of faith to do the same:

Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night watches! Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord! Lift your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street. (Lamentations 2:19, NRSV).

It’s cool to see great people of faith model similar behaviour. If you’re an early morning person, or a night owl, you should be encouraged. Every time and any time is a good time to converse with God or meditate.

Action steps

• Get a journal or some paper and a pen.
• Put your phone in a drawer or another room.
• Get a physical Bible (so you won't get distracted by anything else).
• Take time to write out Psalm 119: 137 - 148 verse by verse.
• Reflect on what God is highlighting as you write it out.