Fear Not

If I Was on Fire

Chapter 76

Psalm 59:16
But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.

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Preface

Gandhi said, "Every night when I go to sleep, I die. And every morning when I wake up I'm born again." What he was saying here is that he lets go of the past, resetting life, making it brand-new at the dawning of each new day. Gandhi refused to carry the issues of yesterday into today, including grudges and unforgiveness.

How much more so should we?

But for those issues that carry themselves over into the next day, meeting us again the moment we wake up, these pull more powerfully at our attention. They serve as either opportunity to activate our faith, or to allow the issue to ignite us with fear, burning away our sanity and wellbeing.

Procrastination has a way of letting us know how important something really is to us. If we're inclined to put off till later something we tell ourselves should be done now, then it lacks any real sense of urgency; by extension, any sense of importance, as demonstrated by our behavior.
If we don't procrastinate, putting anything and everything that's not the issue to the side, in order to see the problem solved, then that tells us the thing we're trying to see handled will either bring to us or threaten something we highly value.

David reveals how he addresses the more pressing issues "in the morning," having them carried away, like dawn's light breaks through and carries away the darkness from the night before.

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We see this phrase used more than once throughout the Psalms, "in the morning."

David sings it here, in Psalm 59, in response to Saul sending men to watch David's house in order to kill him.

Heman sings it at Psalm 88:13, when he was going through Job-like challenges, seemingly everything being against him with no relief in sight.

David had also sung it at Psalm 5:3, in response to his enemies spreading lies about him.
Elsewhere, when Moses first "took his seat to serve as judge for the people," they'd show up first thing in the morning to plead their case and to seek God's will" (Exodus 18:13,15). The more pressing or important the issue, the earlier they arrived.

"Morning is translated from the Hebrew word "boqer," which, directly, means 'dawn' (as the 'break' of day). It comes from 'baqar,' meaning to 'plough,' or 'break' forth. The same word is used elsewhere as to 'search,' and to 'seek out.'
To 'plough' means to open or break up, or to move through, like a ship ploughing through the waves.

"In the morning" is always used during particularly intense emotional responses to very dangerous or seemingly overwhelming threats or life circumstances. The implication is the degree of urgency prevents sound sleep, having them up and in God's face first thing. As their eyes open in the morning, they awaken with an appeal to God already on their lips.

Also, by saying "in the morning" as part of their prayer, they're adding emphasis, essentially telling God, "This is how important this is, how distressed I am. Before anything else, I'm coming to you, God. Nothing else matters."

It's saying, "I'm putting God first in my mind, heart and in all I do, refusing to do anything else--brush my teeth, drink a cup of coffee, shower, go to work, eat--until the turbulent waves of my internal mental, emotional state are calmed, returned to peace.