Articles
A Day in the Life of A Believer
What does your day look like? How important is God and His word to you, and how does your day reflect that? Each of us have different schedules and responsibilities, so our days are going to each be different, too, but let's think about how we could be spending our time each day; let's look at the words of the psalmist [mostly], and the fact God and His ways seemed to be on his mind continuously, and all throughout the day and night.
Late Night/Early Morning. The committed believer will have God's word on his mind, even at night. The psalmist writes as one who obviously loved the Lord and His word, and it shows in his words of this psalm devoted to expressing his deep and abiding love for God and His word. Here, he writes, “My eyes are awake before the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promise” (Psa. 119:148). Here is one who had studied God's word so diligently and consistently, his mind was filled with the word and he lay awake with them in his thoughts. Even in the early hours, the mind of the committed disciple thinks on God's word!
And even before the sun rises, the one who loves God and His word is awakened by memories of God's care; in one psalm, he writes, “my mouth will praise you with joyful lips when I remember You upon my bed, and meditate on You in the watches of the night; for You have been my help” (Psa. 63:5-7). If it was not the word of God, it would be the work of God that awakened the committed believer! Here's someone who so loved God and His Word that when he awoke with a memory of God he would be ready to sing out His praise!
Before and Into Dawn. The committed believer, at first light, will be thinking of the Lord. Hear him: “I rise before dawn and cry for help” (Psa. 119:147) — he arises early to pray to God for help through another day, and to get his mind focused on spiritual things as he begins the new day. But even in this beginning, we find the committed believer is merely following the pattern of his Master, who was known to do the same (Mark 1:35)!
The committed believer also rises to the new day with a mind set to obey the Lord from the beginning and throughout the day. Think of the great and faithful men such as Abraham, who was told to go to the land of Moriah and to one of the mountains to sacrifice his only son, Isaac — the son of promise — and we find that he “rose early in the morning” to go an do what the Lord had commanded (Gen. 22:2-3); or Job, who “would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings” for each of his sons and daughters (Job 1:5); he cared for their souls and so began each day with an offering on their behalf and not just himself. We would do well to follow their examples!
Mid- To Late Morning. The committed believer continues to think of the Lord as the day progresses, going to the Lord in prayer regularly. Praying. As we have seen already, the committed believer does not trust in his own abilities to make it through the day, but calls on the Lord while it is yet dark. But he does not cease there! No, for we find — again — the committed believer calling on the Lord “in the morning” (Psa. 5:2-3), and to the Lord he says, “in the morning my prayer comes before You” (Psa. 88:13). I don't believe it would be presumptuous to say that his prayers were not just the ones given in thanks for the food set before him as breakfast! Before dawn, he is praying; after light of day, he is praying. Could you guess what the committed believer will be doing throughout his day? Do you see a pattern?
Noon. The committed believer will be meditating on God's word throughout the day, too. The psalmist describes the godly man as one who “meditates day and night” on the law of the Lord (Psa. 1:2) and one who can honestly say, “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day” (Psa. 119:97). He finds true joy in the word of God and spends time with the word that he might better know and understand the will of his God and so he rolls it over and over in his mind [the definition of meditation] and thinks seriously about what he has read. He is not rushing to fill in blanks before Bible class on Sunday morning, but is prepared at all times because he studies God's word and then meditates on it continuously!
And, not surprisingly, we find the committed believer again praying. He is not one who is drawn to the useless activities that waste so much time, but uses his time wisely — in prayer! The psalmist would say, “I call to God, and the Lord will save me. Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice” (Psa. 55:16, 17). He was not saying he prayed so often because the Lord would not hear; quite the opposite! He was saying that whenever he called on the Lord with his complaints, the Lord would hear! Can we see the place of prayer in the life of the righteous and committed believer?
Afternoon/Evening. The committed believer is one who takes the time to praise God throughout the day, too. As the day winds down, God is still at the forefront of his thoughts, and he boldly says he would be willing to “tell of [God's] righteousness and of your praise all the day long” (Psa. 35:28), and who would “declare [His] steadfast love in the morning, and [His] faithfulness by night” (Psa. 92:1-2). Basically, he is saying there is no time when he would not be praising God for what He has done! If we thought about it, doesn't it take all the day to recall all the great things He has done?
And, at the end of the day, we find the committed believer…praying. He asks God, “Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!” (Psa. 141:2) As those daily sacrifices were offered at the close of each day, he asks that God receive his prayers in that same manner — pleasing and acceptable to Him, and soothing to the heart of God.
Night. Finally, as the day has ended and the time of rest comes, the committed believer is one who sleeps peacefully. He does not have to worry about anything when he goes to bed at night. God plainly says “he finds peace,” and, “they rest in their beds who walk in their uprightness” (Isa. 57:1, 2). A righteous man can sleep at night with all comfort, knowing God's promises and care are sure, and that even should he die that night, he would be far better than any point in his life on earth. He can honestly say, “As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness” (Psa. 17:15). He lives for the day when he go to sleep one last time, only to awaken where the Lord is!
So, how does your day go? What does it look like? How much a part of your day is God and His word? As we have seen from these words, we can have a GREAT day if we start with the Lord and end with the Lord, and think on the Lord and His word throughout the day. Prayer, as we have seen, is an important part of the day for the committed believer; so let's make sure the same could be said of us.
When our days look like this, our nights will be peaceful knowing that, Lord willing, day will come, and we can know we have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, having our sins were washed away by His blood. — Steven Harper
