Waking Up With the King

I am a fan of the Burger King King. I know that most people find him very creepy, or at least a tad bit unsettling, but I think he is quite funny. I found an article today written about Burger King's new promotion called "Wake Up With the King." For six dollars plus shipping and handling, you could buy a pillow case with the King's face on it in such a way that he looked as if he were laying next to you, staring at you as you slept. Again, most would find this creepy, but I couldn't help but start my day with a laugh if I had that. It seems that the pillowcases sold out rather quickly, so you getting one was probably based on determination to get one. If I saw the commercial and then said, "Well I can get that later," then I would be out of luck at this point. They're no longer available. What if instead of starting our day with the Burger King, we were determined to start our day with the heavenly King? Throughout the Bible we see men arising early with God on their mind.

Genesis 19 records the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Before the destruction, Abraham had pleaded with God to spare the destruction if so many faithful could be found. Verse 28 and 29 record Abraham waking up early to see the result. Moses wrote, "And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD: and he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace." Abraham woke up early with a concern for God's justice and hope for a people. I would guess that Abraham knew the sinfulness of the cities destroyed, yet he hoped that enough could be found to save them. He also seemed to know of God's mercy and patience, as it had been bestowed upon himself many times. When Abraham woke up, he was concerned with the sin of the world and the effect it brought upon nations. I suppose he meditated on the issue. I can picture him in my mind, waking up with hope of peace on the horizon, only to see smoke. I can see Abraham walking away, sitting down and meditating upon the power and justice and mercy and love of God. If we woke up with this same thought on our mind, I wonder how much more motivated we would be to try and pull people from sin and to God? How easier it would be to remained focused on God and who He is.

Genesis 20 has another man arising early with God on his mind. Abimelech was a king who had welcomed Abraham and his wife into his kingdom. He was not aware that Sarah was married though, due to a lie Abraham told, and took her as his own. In the night God visited him, revealing Abraham's secret and noting the death that would come upon Abimelech if he did not turn Sarah back over to her husband. I don't know how Abimelech slept through the night, but he did, and he woke up early. He "rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid. Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done" (Genesis 20:8-9). Abimelech was concerned with doing God's will. He had great motivation as his physical life was on the line and he wanted to protect that. What if we woke up, or even went to sleep, with sin in our lives? From studying the scriptures we can see how much more important our spiritual life is than our physical, yet many neither sleep nor wake with any concern for doing God's Will.

A final example can be found in Jesus. John 8:2 records that, "early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them." Jesus was sure to have an early start on his work for the Lord. He knew the importance of time and using it wisely.

I would think that time is the one thing we all fail with in using correctly. We all waste time, yet we can do our best to do with it all we can.