
By Ada Brownell
When I get up early in the morning and draw back the blinds in our family room, I love seeing the sun pour in warmth and light. I often stand there looking out in the back yard, thanking the Lord for the day He has made.
But I never actually greeted the day with intense expectancy until I noticed Psalm 110:3 which mentions “the womb of the dawn” in the NIV, and “the womb of the morning” in the King James.
Some of this passage also is a prophecy about the Messiah, but it also is for the follower of God. The womb of the dawn holds promise to help us conquer our enemies each day. If I have personal enemies in the traditional sense, I guess I don’t know it. Yet, there are little enemies that steal my time, steal my attention, wound my desire to do God’s will, and things like that.
A womb is where new life lives. Every day dawns with new challenges, new adventures and an allotment of time. Why hadn’t I noticed each new morning is pregnant with opportunity? Am I going to allow these things to be stillborn? Or am I going to nourish them with prayer, study and diligence?
I get up before my husband most days and start with scripture and prayer. It’s a fine time to be alone with God. Sometimes the Lord gives me writing ideas, or sends me to my desk scribbling a passage to give something else I’m working on more clarity. Perhaps I’ll think of someone I need to contact—often for encouragement.
The time on my knees is when the seeds often are planted that grow into something for the Kingdom. But then, just as with farming, often that means hard work.
The womb of the morning delivers all day—people that need a smile, even husbands and children that need attention. Somehow God gives strength for them all. The scripture that speaks of the “womb of the dawn” goes on to say, “You will receive the dew of your youth.”
Now I realize not everyone who reads this will be as old as I am. But think. Even if you’re in your 20s, do you have the energy of a four- or five-year-old who can run and run, burning energy from the time they get up until they drop for a brief nap and start all over again? I never walked anywhere when I was a kid. I ran everywhere.
I still enjoy exercise, but by the time I get through with my walk, I’m ready to sit in a recliner. But I’m taking God’s encouragement and look expectantly to the dawn of every morning, using the strength He gives.
©Ada Brownell 2013
ADA (NICHOLSON) BROWNELL was born in Colorado’s peach country, the youngest of eight. A retired reporter for The Pueblo Chieftain, she won the Colorado Psychiatric Society’s 1998 media awareness award; nominated for the American Psychiatric Society’s media writing award in 1995 and in 1996; nominated for the American Cancer Society’s public health reporter award in 1994; Colorado Associated Press Editors and Reporters, first place, environment, 1994. She has sold 275 free lance pieces to 45 Christian publications. Author of Swallowed by Life: Mysteries of Death, Resurrection and the Eternal, released in 2011; and Confessions of a Pentecostal, 1978; and chapters in five other books, including 50 Tough Questions.