By Matthew Maher

It is true that whatever the heart lays hold of in the morning will often hold the heart in the evening, and that is why I want my heart to lay hold of the Lord each and every day. I want the impression of my heart, before my day really gets going, to be pressed into the Lord's plan for my day.

David wrote in Psalm 63:

“O God, You are my God. Early will I seek You.”

And this idea of “early” not only means chronologically, such as first things first, but it also means as a priority and earnestly. 

In other words, David pursued God as the day broke, but he also did so with such passion knowing that if he didn’t seek God that way, then he would somehow break. I love that. I have learned personally that early seeking of the Lord is the best way to stay close to the Lord.  It’s also a sure way to secure the wisdom of the Lord for what lies ahead. You see, we may not know what the day will bring, but we do control what we bring to the day. We control the posture of our worship each day, whether it is directed toward the world or is pointed at the Lord. 

It would be best practice for every believer to become an early seeker. But not just seeking God for an answer to a prayer but recognizing that HE is the answer to every prayer. Because to seek God first and foremost in every instance is to know the answer is always His presence. We don’t need a new set of circumstances or some miraculous deliverance, what we really need is more of Jesus. 

Just think of a time when you were in the throngs of an unexpected tragedy — didn’t you hear from and feel the Lord’s comfort more vividly in the center of the storm? I know I did.

So, the question remains: Why do we not seek God early in our day or early in any given situation? I am convinced it is because we have lost our awe of God. And because we are no longer moved by God, we naturally move away from God. It's a given, when we lose our wonder of God, we will begin to wander from God. 

So, how do you know if your awe of God has been lost? 

Ask yourself: What is my first waking thought? What's my internal alarm clock ticking to? In other words, what gets you up in the morning? Or what do you dedicate time and energy to during your day? Many would say work, but when work gets ahead of worship, why are we surprised when worry gets into our head and begins to completely warp our lives? David would go on to write: "My soul thirsts for You and my flesh longs for You, in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water." 

And herein lies the key to becoming an early seeker of God — knowing that whatever we thirst for will be exactly what we seek after. David was actually in a very dry time in his life when he penned those words, literally in a dry and thirsty land, a desert. Yet, because he longed for the Lord, though a desert surrounded him, there was no desert within him. 

I can relate to what David is saying here, because I, too, know what it's like to be in a desert. A dry place. A desolate place. You see, spending 55 months in prison allowed for me to be completely weaned from the world and it also afforded me the time to learn how to lean into the Lord. So, for close to 5 years, I spent time drinking from the oasis of Jesus and I found that when the Lord is the well for the soul, then it can be well with your soul — even in a "dry and thirsty land." 

And not only that, but when I set apart time each day to seek God early, I discovered that God was not only with me, but He even went before me.

Matthew Maher is a contributing writer for Think Eternity. Go to www.TruthOverTrend.com to navigate the ministry and messaging of Maher.

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