Coffee With The Lord

It’s Monday afternoon, about 1:00, I have a headache. It’s not that it’s been a busy day, it’s not that it’s Monday afternoon and not Friday afternoon. The problem is that I missed my cup of coffee this morning. You see, I’m so over-caffeinated that when I don’t get some Java Juice (wake-up juice, cup ‘o joe, whatever pet name you’ve picked out for your morning cup of coffee) I go through caffeine withdrawals. The most telling symptom: The “coffee cephalalgia.” Really it’s just a bad headache.

So what caused me to miss my morning cup of coffee you ask?

It could have been that I was running late and didn’t have a chance to brew up some Joe. It could have been that the line at the Starbucks was out the door and around the corner and I was already running late for work. It could have been that a coffee embargo had been placed on the United States and there just wasn’t any coffee to have. It could have been any of these things, and more, but it wasn’t. The only reason that I missed my cup of coffee this morning was that I have an unbreakable rule about my morning coffee.

My rule is this: If I have time to brew up some coffee but don’t have time to meet with the Lord, I don’t have coffee. If I have time to stop at the Starbucks, but I don’t have time to pray and read a devotional, I don’t have coffee. If I have time to go to the United Nations and have Columbia lift a coffee embargo against the United States but I don’t have time to read a few chapters of Scripture in the morning before I start my day, I don’t have coffee.

My rule is this: I only have my morning coffee, when I can have my coffee with the Lord.

It’s Monday afternoon, about 1:00, I have a headache because I didn’t have time this morning for the Lord.

Oh how I long for the sweet aroma of my Sumatra; I crave the full bodied taste of my Columbian; I can dream of sipping my Kona on the back porch. But there is something far greater that I long for, my personal time with my personal Savior.

Our personal worship time with our Lord is so much more precious to us than getting our morning fix of coffee, or whatever else we spend fifteen to thirty minutes doing each morning instead of spending that time on Jesus.

“O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.” – Psalm 5:3

I love this verse! The Psalmist is saying that as he is preparing his sacrifice he is watching. Watching, in expectation to see what God is about to do. How awesome a thought to sit in expectation of the Lord’s work, watching, anxiously to see what He is going to do.

As I sip my coffee with the Lord I wonder, “God what will you do with me today?” “How will you use me to serve you, to honor you, to bring glory to your name?” “How will you allow me to enjoy you today?”

I believe that this is why it is so important for us to take time each morning before our day really begins to seek God and His will for our lives each day. While some great friends of mine prefer to spend time with the Lord at night, I would argue that the Lord ought to be the first thing that we set our minds on each day! Don’t get me wrong I would rather that you spend your evenings with the Lord if it otherwise meant not spending any time with Him. I just believe that we need the encouragement, the power, the vision, and the instruction before we begin our day, not after it. I think it was Charles Spurgeon who said something like, “we don’t wrestle with the powers of darkness in our sleep, why then prepare for battle before bed?” I think the Psalmists’ agree:

Psalm 59:16 But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress.

Psalm 88:13 But I, O LORD, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you.

Psalm 90:14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Psalm 143:8 Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.

What steps can you take to have your quite time with the Lord in the morning?

· How about going to bed fifteen minutes early so you can wake up fifteen minutes early to be with Him?

· How about laying your Bible open to the Psalms, or a book of the bible that you’ve been wanting to read, and laying your car keys on top of your open bible. Then, instead of just driving off to work tomorrow you can stop and read a quick passage or two.

· How about getting to work fifteen or thirty minutes early and instead of just starting work pop open your bible or your devotional and spend some time with Jesus.

· And if you really get in a pinch: Realize that it’s okay to pray with your eyes open! When you’re running late to work or school remember you can pray as you go. If it takes thirty minutes to get to work that’s an easy thirty minutes of good prayer time. Turn on some good Christian tunes and worship away!

It’s Monday afternoon, about 1:00, I have a headache.

Yes, I miss the aroma, I crave the taste of my brew, I’m even dreaming of drinking that coffee. But I want to smell the aroma of something else even more. I want to smell pure worship of Jesus like the smell of the perfume emptied out on the Lord by the woman in Matthew 26. I want to taste the Lord and know that He alone is good (Psalm 34). I want to dream of seeing Him in glory, sitting on His throne, and I and His Church in His presence. I miss my coffee, but I miss my Jesus even more.

It’s Monday afternoon, about 1:00, I have a headache but tomorrow I won’t!