Do We Have To Pray First Thing In The Morning?

“Give ear to my words, O Lord; consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray. O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.”
Psalm 5:1-3

There’s a lot of debate in my house as to verses that encourage us to seek God in the morning. For some of us, having to get up any earlier than normal is the unpardonable sin. That’s a bit tongue in cheek, but we really do struggle to seek God early.

In this passage, the Psalmist isn’t giving us instruction on the time of day that we should seek God, but an attitude towards Him that we should have. At the end of verse three, he repeats the phrase “in the morning” to emphasize something. I don’t think he was emphasizing time as much as he is emphasizing that his first thoughts of the day were directed toward God.

Do you wake up thinking about God? King David did. He woke up and his first thoughts were aimed toward God. He says in the morning you hear my voice, meaning his first prayers of the day were heard by God. This doesn’t mean that God only hears our first prayers, but that God is listening for them. He is waiting for us to speak to Him, to acknowledge Him to start our day.

The first thing most of us do in the morning is pick up our phone. We check it for messages. Did someone text me while I was sleeping? Did someone like my social media post? What happened while I was resting? I do the same thing. But where should our first thoughts be?

Over the years, I’ve struggled with this, so I’ve had to try and setup boundaries to help me. I’ve made commitments to not look at my phone until after I’ve first turned my eyes toward God. My heart really is to seek him first thing when I wake up, but my mind gets easily distracted and I fall back into bad habits quite frequently.

If you find yourself in a similar place, just remember, God has grace for you. He’s not waiting for you to acknowledge Him with a scowl upon his face. No! He’s waiting with joy in his eyes. He’s waiting with an earnest desire to hear your prayers. In this Psalm, David is struggling with praying, yet he continues to pray and he knows that God hears him. He hears your prayers too.

Prayer - Father, I know sometimes I am easily distracted. Thank you for having grace towards me and loving me in spite of those things. Lord, help me to turn my eyes toward you whenever my day starts. Help me to keep my focus on you throughout my day and help me to finish my day with you. Amen.