Some instruction on rising early to commune with God

Recently I watched a cartoon with one of my sons. This cartoon was made in the 1950's and it portrayed what life would be like in the year 2000 (it wasn't the Jetsons). It was quite silly. The people in the 1950's saw people 50 years later embracing a space age lifestyle. There was the flying saucer that you didn't have to drive, television screens that were so interactive that the actors actually appeared in your room, food that came up instantly at the push of a button, and robot housekeepers. One of the main points was that we would have much leisure time because space age technology would do all the work for us. The main character in the cartoon explained how he had a three day work week that consisted of 3 hour work days.

Well, I don't think the projected leisure became the reality. People are as busy as ever (and I believe busier). One of the struggles many believers have is finding and making the time to commune with God. And more specifically, we are so busy we often don't get enough sleep and find it quite hard to rouse ourselves in the morning early enough to spend some time in the presence of our loving God communing with Him.

George Mueller helps us out here again. Here is a lengthy quote from him from his autobiography (page 119), that I trust will be a benefit to us all:

"It may be said, 'But how shall I set about rising early [to commune with God]?' My advice is: Do not delay. Begin tomorrow. But do not depend on your own strength. You may have begun to rise early in the past but have given up. If you depend on your own strength in this matter, it will come to nothing. In every good work, we must depend on the Lord. If anyone rises so that he may give the time which he takes from sleep to prayer and meditation, let him be sure that Satan will try to put obstacles in the way.

"Trust in the Lord for your help. You will honor Him if you expect help from Him in this matter. Pray for help, expect help, and you will have it. In addition to this, go to bed early. If you stay up late, you cannot rise early. Let no pressure of engagements keep you from going habitually early to bed. If you fail in this, you neither can nor should get up early because your body requires rest.

"Rise at once when you are awake [Mueller said this even before there was a snooze button on alarm clocks]. Remain not a minute longer in bed or else you are likely to fall asleep again. Do not be discouraged by feeling drowsy and tired from rising early. This will soon wear off. After a few days you will feel stronger and fresher than when you used to lie an hour or two longer than needed. Always allow yourself the same hours for sleep. Make no change except on account of sickness."

Mueller is very practical here. He is helping us to strategize how we might fight against the hungers of our flesh, the misplacing of priorities, and the excuses that our mind (under the control of our heart) quickly generates. May we read his advice with open minds and hearts that long to take seriously the privilege of communing with God.

Mueller's advice may not work for you, but may we all strategize on how to start our days in sweet communion with God. Here is one final Mueller quote. When he was 71 years old, he admonished younger believers with the following words:

"Now in brotherly love and affection I would give a few hints to my younger fellow-believers as to the way in which to keep up spiritual enjoyment. It is absolutely needful in order that happiness in the Lord may continue, that the Scriptures be regularly read. These are God's appointed means for the nourishment of the inner man. . . .Consider it, and ponder over it. . . . Especially we should read regularly through the Scriptures, consecutively, and not pick out here and there a chapter. If we do, we remain spiritual dwarfs. I tell you so affectionately. For the first four years after my conversion I made no progress, because I neglected the Bible. But when I regularly read on through the whole with reference to my own heart and soul, I directly made progress. Then my peace and joy continued more and more. Now I have been doing this for 47 years. I have read through the whole Bible about 100 times and I always find it fresh when I begin again. Thus my peace and joy have increased more and more."

Those words, of an older, godly brother, who had walked the path of life with spiritual vigor motivate me. May you be encouraged to rise early and spend some sweet time with our God.

The priority of communing with God in the life of a believer

"These last three days I have had very little real communion with God, and have therefore been irritable and weak spiritually."

Can you relate to this?

These words actually come from George Mueller's autobiography. And I know that I can relate to it, both in the struggle to have a meaningful and consistent devotional time where I am truly communing with God, and in the fruit of neglecting that sweet fellowship.

Here's the entry for the next day of Mueller's life, "I rose early this morning and spent nearly two hours in prayer before breakfast. I now feel more comfortable."

I believe that Mueller's humble testimony provides a great arguement and motivation to invest our time in meaningful communion with God ("devotions," "quiet time"). It argues from both the positive and negative: positively, time with God is sweet and rewarding; negatively, neglecting time with God puts me out of step, makes me spiritually vulnerable, and sinful fruit pops up in my life. I believe Mueller would exhort us to make it a chief priority in our life to attend to; in fact, he does so several times in his autobiography. Let me give you a few examples:

A humble testimony of neglecting time with God...
“I must offer a word of warning to believers. Often the work of the Lord itself may tempt us away from communion with Him. A full schedule of preaching, counseling, and travel can erode the strength of the mightiest of the Lord. Public prayer will never make up for closet communion. After this evening’s meeting, I should have withdrawn from the company of brothers and sisters, explaining that I needed secret communion with the Lord. Instead, I spent the time until the coach came in conversation with them. Although I enjoyed their fellowship, my soul needed food. Without it, I was lean and felt the effects of it the whole day. I was even silent on the coach and did not speak a word for Christ or give away a single tract.” (p. 48)

And here is a motivating exhortation...
“Anyone who spends one, two, or three hours in prayer and meditation before breakfast will soon discover the beneficial effect early rising has on the outward and inward man.” (p. 119)


There are a hundred other things competing for our attention, but none is so rewarding and so enduring as communing with God. May God change our hearts to see both the blessing of the results of communing with Him, and the supremely delightful privilege it is to have the open ended invitation to enter into His presence and enjoy communing with Him.