December 11: Of Waiting and Certainty => With Apologies. I thought I'd sent it out yesterday...

Amos 4:1-6:14

Revelation 2:18-3:6

Psalm 130:1-8

Proverbs 29:21-22

"I wait for the Lord

     more than watchmen wait for the morning,

     more than watchmen wait for the morning."

-Ps 130:6

What did a watchman dor?  He stood guard - over fields, to guard crops from animals or thieves, or over city walls, to look out for approaching threat.  If he saw an animal, a thief, an enemy, he would sound the alarm, so people could defend the crop, or shut the gates and defend the city.

This was a time when law was different, theft and war were more commonplace, and those who stood guard at night did not have help we have today - no motion sensors, night vision goggles, or flood lights to see the enemy approach.  And, as a matter of efficiency, if I were an invader, the watchman is the first guy I would take out.  Is it any wonder the watchmen anxiously waited for morning, for light, and the security it provided?  

People are waiting anxiously for many things these days.  For a vaccine they hope will let them go back to earning a living.  For a college admission letter or a job offer they hope will open doors to a better life.  An effective chemotherapy regimen.  A marriage proposal.  A positive pregnancy test, a healthy baby.  They wait on these things, they put their hope in these things with their whole being - though NONE of it is certain to happen. Certainly not as certain as the sunrise.  

Reading this passage, that's what struck me.  "I wait for the Lord MORE than the watchmen wait for the morning"…as certain as we think the rising of the sun might be, the coming of the Lord - of His provision, protection, mercy and "unfailing love" - is even more certain.  So if we are prepared to put our trust in vaccines and college and job offers and relationships - should we not be infinitely more prepared to put our trust in Him?

Father, elsewhere in Your word you teach us the difference between wise and foolish men, and houses on rock and sand.  Teach us to put our faith not in the uncertain, but in the only One that IS certain, to put our trust in You and Your unfailing love.