Start the Day at Night

Mark 1:32 That evening after sunset, many sick and demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus… 35 And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.

Two verses from this past Sunday’s text remind us of the value of perceiving the beginning of the new 24 hour day as the evening rather than the morning. Jewish culture treated evening followed by morning as part of the same 24 hour day rather than two days separated by night.

God pointed to the first day as being initiated with evening followed by morning calling that the first day. Genesis 1:5 And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

So too Sabbath begins Friday evening and ends Saturday evening. This new day beginning Saturday evening suspended the no-work rule of the Sabbath allowing people to carry their sick to Jesus lawfully in the case of mark 1:32.

The point for us to be made is that when our day begins in the evening, the morning seems more likely to be a planned as a next event as opposed to some far-off distinct occurrence that we don’t have to worry about until tomorrow.

We begin to realize that for the morning to go as planed we must begin that process in the evening. If we are to follow Jesus in his pattern of carving out quiet meditative solitary time which includes mental energy available to invest in prayer and the alertness to listen to God and receive from God, that will only happen when the evening is perceived as that which immediately precedes the morning rather than seeing them as distinct.

As much as you must make coffee before you can expect to drink it, you must prepare your morning meditation time by preceding it with planned, proportioned sleep that will allow you the freedom and energy to enter morning devotions rested and alert.

Profitable morning devotions are preceded by a planned and disciplined evening.

Hebrews 11:6 Anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

If we express to God an earnestness to seek him out, we can expect him to reward that desire by meeting us and revealing more of himself to us in a way that produces joy.

Proverbs 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.