It’s hard to know exactly when it is. It’s a process.
It doesn’t happen all at once; it comes slowly … gradually … little by little.
It comes between the pitch dark of midnight and the blazing sun of noon.

Dawn.

Every day has one. Webster’s dictionary defines it as “the beginning of a new day.”
Shouldn’t we be able to point to one specific moment that starts a new day?

But that’s not the way the dawn works. It happens slowly, not suddenly.
The world doesn’t go from pitch black to bright sun in two seconds, it takes a lot longer.

Proverbs makes an interesting statement about the dawn.
“The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn,
which shines ever brighter until the full light of day.”

“The way of the righteous” begs a question: who is “the righteous”?
The righteous are people in right-standing with God;
people who trust Him and do their best to bring Him honor
with every part of their lives.

So the way of people who are following God is like the dawn.
People don’t become “righteous” overnight.
It takes time. It happens gradually…little by little.

When we decide to follow God, we’re changed in that moment.
Once we were lost, now we are found.
That’s true, but it’s incomplete.

It’s a journey. A process.
What is right now is just another step on the way to what is not yet.

The puzzle isn’t finished.
The surgery isn’t over.
The remodel isn’t complete.

Are we there yet?

The way of the righteous is not like a light switch or a microwave.
You can’t speed things up or make it happen NOW.
There’s no instant holiness or immediate character enhancement.

Life with God doesn’t work that way.
You have to understand the dawn.