I rise before dawn and cry for help,

I hope in your word.

The sincere heart seeking help from God is willing to do violence to itself by rising before dawn for prayer.  It anticipates the Lord's coming in the new day by rising early and waiting in prayerful vigil for him.

For the Christian we hope in the Word who is Christ.  "Place all your hope in him."  But what did it mean for the psalmist to "hope in your words?"  Your words for the psalmist are the book of the precepts.  He hopes in your law, which is the manifest expression of your will.

Taken another way, "rising before dawn" is living in the era of the law before the coming of the light of Christ, who is the complete fulfillment of the law.  Hoping in the book of the covenant is an anticipatory hope in its complete fulfillment in the future Messiah.  "Be attentive to the prophetic message as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts." (2 Peter 1.19)

Understood yet another way, rising before dawn to wait for the Lord has a concrete, physical analogy in enduring the cold, dark hours before dawn until the sun begins to rise and scatter the darkness.  It is something to behold the end of night each morning and the awakening of creation, manifest through countless bird songs which greet the new day.  One cannot help but think of the tomb awaiting all of us and the patient endurance required until we see the door of our grave open, the light of Christ stream in, hear the words "arise, sleeper" then awaken once and forever to the endless chorus of angel-song.  Well worth rising before dawn to meditate on!