Mason has started a new shift this month. He’s gone from working nights to days and now we have a new schedule to figure out. Day 2 didn’t go so well for me. I woke at 3:45 this morning. I stayed in bed for a while, but finally got up.

I’ve always had this issue. If I wake up any time after 3:30 or 4:00 am, I will probably be up for the day. For me, my brain seems to work best early in the morning. I used to wake up in college early to study. When my children were little, it seemed this was the best time for “me” time. As I’ve grown older this hasn’t changed. I’ve found that it’s easiest for me to write my blog or work on Bible study earlier in the day as well.

So what do I do at 3:30 in the morning? Before I get out of bed I pray. Sometimes it will be all that’s necessary to help me fall back to sleep. But if I’m still awake a ½ hour later, I get up and work on Bible study. After that, I move to writing.

This little routine works for me. I know, not everyone is wired this way, but I can tell you, there were a few people in Scripture who got up early to see what God was up to. Let’s take a look at some of them.

I don’t know if Abraham was a regular early riser, but we find two cases in Genesis when he got up early. In Genesis 19:27, Abraham got up early to see the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. And again in Genesis 22:3 we see the account of Abraham being tested by God. Early in the morning, Abraham took a couple of servants, wood, a donkey and Isaac. They traveled to the place God told him about. There, Abraham prepared to sacrifice his only son because God had asked him to do so. In the end, Isaac was spared and a ram was sacrificed instead.

Jacob woke early after his dream of the stairway to heaven (Genesis 28:10-22). It’s hard to believe that Jacob was able to sleep at all with a stone as a pillow, but God was able to use Jacob’s sleep to share His message and pointed Jacob to a time of worship early in the morning. Another very good way to spend our early awake hours.

After the Sabbath, a group of ladies went to Jesus’ tomb “very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise.” (Mark 16:1-7) They were unable to prepare Jesus’ body after His death because of Jewish law, but they wasted no time to spend a few moments with their Lord. Mary Magdalene, James’ mother Mary and Salome took spices and oil to anoint Jesus. And what did they find? Not the body of Jesus to anoint, but an angel telling them the good news that Jesus was alive. Now that would have been worth waking early to see.

And finally, we see that Jesus seemed to find times of refreshing through the night and early in the morning. In the beginning of John 8, we see that Jesus went to the Mount of Olives at night. Then at dawn, Jesus was found in the temple courts. Early in the morning, Jesus was teaching.

Mark 1:35 (NIV) tells us that “very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”

I believe we are able to find a list of things we can do when we find ourselves wide awake early in the morning (or late at night if you are a night owl).

• We can think about God
• We can be reminded of ways God is at work in our lives
• We can place our trust and faith in God
• We can worship God
• We can anoint God as Lord of our lives
• We can pray to God
• We can meet God in the moment
• We can learn about God

Perhaps there are other things we can do when we can’t sleep (some not so good), but with these examples, I believe these are a great place to start. Maybe the next time you find yourself in this situation you’ll remember a few of these ideas and will enjoy the extra time with God. I did!

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Donna