WATCHMAN

With An Expectant Heart

Psalm 5:3 (a Psalm of David) says: "O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you [direct my prayer to you] and watch." (ESV)

The word “watch” (צָפָה sapah) means to look attentively, keeping a watch; to be a lookout implying a future hope or expectation; to be on guard, to be aware and always alert.

How often do we exercise a prayerful discipline in our daily lives yet we go on about our lives without genuine expectation? Like David, in the morning we lift our voices in prayer as our daily sacrifice to YHWH but, unlike David, we leave it there! We exit our prayer chambers and get busy with our days too often without watching for God’s response(s). We pray and consider our Christian duty to be done. Daily reading — check! Daily prayer — check! But, Psalm 5:3 invites us to include with our petitions a watch — being on the lookout with hope and expectation for God's response. God is constantly at work in our lives, responding to the prayers of His people AND moving on our behalf.

Failing to watch—missing His responses to our prayers is akin to allowing the emphasis of our prayer time to point to us ... period. Pat on the back. "Good job, Jan!" You did it! It's all about us fulfilling our spiritual duty. We become self-satisfied and grow at ease with our self-disciplines (notice the word "self").

Being on the watch for God to sovereignly work in response to our prayers reveals the heart of a watchman … alert, aware and filled with expectancy. A heart like David, a man who knew YHWH would never fail. A man who watched constantly with expectancy for God to respond.

So many of us could do better at directing our prayers to God by including the work of a watchman with a grateful heart as we expectantly watch for His response.

Read the Word. Pray without ceasing. Be a watchman with an expectant heart that will induce true thankfulness and authentic worship!