Moon with Clouds by Wives digital

While working late this evening into well beyond dawn the next day, I had the chance to read in the Common Lectionary Psalm 63. The Psalm is attributed to David, and he is being pursued and persecuted. He is in the wilderness. While in this place he is reflecting and seeking after God. I don’t know about you, but I have been at that place of seeking after God in the wilderness. I have cried out to him, searching and struggling to make sense of what is going on in my life and yet knowing deep down that the Lord cares for me and has been with me in and through it all.

During my reading of the Psalm, what I latch onto in particular are the verses 5 – 7. David writes, “My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.” (ESV)

David is not where he expected to be at this point in his life. He was uncomfortable, he was being hunted and he was in the wilderness. He was not in a cozy palace somewhere with all the trappings and security of a King. He too is at a place of questions without satisfying answers. He is also reflecting on the God who cares for him. And it is during the watches of the night, as he seeks after the Lord, that he finds and proclaims abundance. He begins with a search, thirst and hunger and finds abundance.

In Psalm 130:6, David again writes, “I long for the Lord more than Watchmen long for the dawn, yes, more than Watchmen long for the dawn.” It seems to me that David is a Watchman, not only in the traditional sense, but also in his attentiveness and intentional seeking after and waiting upon the Lord. A watchman was a sentinel who stood watch over the city or encampment for about four hours at a time. In Davids day they used the military term watches as a way of time keeping ad there would be three watches throughout the night. To be a watchman required discipline and focus. You needed to have the intention of paying attention during your watch, as survival was at stake.

How many of us have been at the place of being up in the middle of the night because of some situation or struggle going on in our lives or in the lives of others? As I said before, I have been at that place. Sometimes the Lord uses those sleepless moments to get a hold of us. But to find the abundance that David is speaking of we need to be alert and intentional. We need to be open and honest with God, sharing, listening and waiting upon Him.