Psalms 130:5 “I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. 6 My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.”
The night watchmen spend their nights on high alert, intently peering into the darkness, on guard for any threat, and they become extremely weary and anxiously keep looking eastward for the first glimmer of the morning light that will relieve them of their duties. Also, there are occasions in life when our burdens and tribulations are so great that sleep will not come, and we spend the night tossing and turning and praying for mercy, anxiously looking for the dawn’s first light. In such times the presence of the light is comforting, it seems to push back the dark misery of the night. In this context, the allegorical miserable watchmen were anxiously waiting for the Lord to come, for they knew that “with him is plenteous redemption” (Psalms 130:7) and they knew that He would “redeem Israel from all his iniquities” (Psalms 130:8). We now know that our beloved Lord has indeed come and “hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (II Timothy 1:9). But there are times when the miseries of this present life are so dolefully dark, that we falter as John the Baptist did when he sent two of his disciples to ask the Lord “Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?” (Matthew 11:3). But, mercifully “the Sun of righteousness” arose “with healing in his wings” (Malachi 4:2) and He told John’s disciples to “Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see” (Matthew 11:4), assuring him that he was not facing his troubles alone; for, the Good Shepherd (John 10:11) was indeed on scene with him. So, as we are passing through the dark and miserable periods of our lives, feeling lonely, discouraged, confused, and pained by some awful tribulation, let us “wait upon the Lord” and joyfully declare with the Psalmist, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4). This we can do, for “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:” (II Peter 1:19)!