When to Start the Day

To determine how the habits of executives differ from other company workers, two authors assessed more than 35,000 leaders. They found that the more seniority a worker had, the more hours they slept per night. This was not because the executives had more people working under them. Rather, it was because they knew how much more efficient they would be with a few more hours of sleep—and they had the discipline to get to bed early.

This principle is so important that it can be said the day begins during the previous evening. In other words, if we go to bed early, we will be ready to face the following day. This coincides with God’s original design for the day. The Bible records that each day of Creation began with the evening and then includes the morning. Those who assume that these days represent thousands of years have to explain why the Bible records that Adam lived less than a thousand years (Genesis 5:5).

When God gave the Israelites instructions concerning festivals, He continued to refer to days using the same formula used in Creation: “It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath” (Leviticus 23:32).

In addition, God included the exact parallel between the Creation days and the weekly observance of the Sabbath in the fourth commandment: “In six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:11). From this it can be deduced that the days of Creation could not have been longer than 24-hour periods.

Apply It:

Go to bed early tonight.

Dig Deeper:

Deuteronomy 16:6; Genesis 7:11; Exodus 16:1

Key Bible Texts

And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. (Genesis 1:15 KJV)