Awaken The Dawn

Awaken the Dawn!

on its own axis. Their day began when the sun rose; ended when the sun set. They were a simple people whose lives revolved around a day of work during sunlight and a night of rest while the sun was absent. David creates a poetic expression out of a natural phe- nomenon. The new day is personified as a sleeping per- son, and David declares that this day must be awakened by his praise and prayer so that it will come alive and pro- vide him with fresh opportunities to serve the living God. F. Delitzsch comments: David feels that he is to be a spiritual rooster, a harbinger of the sunrise, a herald that declares that God’s day will be filled with God’s blessings. Others may be awakened by the dawn, but he will awaken the dawn! Unlike his heathen contemporaries, David does not worship the sun or its dawning; instead, he addresses himself directly to the great Creator-God who made and controls all things! The day and all its potential comes from the hand of God. Therefore, as God’s man, David will rise before the sun and rouse this sleeping giant of opportunities under the name of the Lord. He will order his day by seeking and praising his God before sun-up. As David submits him- self to God, the day presents itself as a servant to be com- manded by the man of God. This pre-dawn prayer and praise so exhilarates him that after he awakens the day, David turns prophetically to the nations and summons their participation in the worship of the Almighty: …with the music of stringed instruments and with song he will awake the not yet risen dawn, the sun still slumbering in its chamber. 2

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