The Night Shift
There’s something blessed about the night hours when the clamor of the world stills. The moonlight sweeps over the lawn and night breezes stir the trees. There’s less traffic on the highway and the animals bed down. God speaks to me in those times. I don’t hear Him audibly, yet I get directions — impressions of ways to minister and scriptures to study further. God reminds me of people to pray for. He longs to speak to us in the evening hours. But we have to guard against the enemy’s prompting at that time. He wants to bombard us with frustrations and unfinished chores.
Psalm 134:1-3 says, “Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of the Lord. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and bless the Lord. The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion” (KJV).
I’ve read it many times. This psalm is an invitation to worship with raised hands. Some commentaries say It is a call to worship at first by many voices with a response by one voice. It is a call to pronounce blessings. It had not become real to me until recently that the temple had a night shift—those who guarded its treasures and walked its corridors with their torches in continual vigilance. Other scriptures define this.
“Every morning and evening, the Levites are to give thanks to the Lord and sing praises to Him. They must also give thanks and sing praises when sacrifices are offered on each Sabbath as well as during New Moon Festivals and other religious feasts. There must always be enough Levites on duty at the temple to do everything that needs to be done” (I Chronicles 23:30,31 CEV).
According to MacLaren’s Expositions, literature of the elder rabbis indicates there may have been a “nightly guard” of 240 priests who made their rounds with torches to see that the various stations of God’s temple were secure. This poem or song in Psalm 134 may have been “the call and counter call of those watchers.” I think of it like the military sentries with their passwords. At any rate standing and praising through the night was the charge of those priests. This makes the admonitions of watching so prevalent in Christ’s warnings more interesting. The descriptions of John the revelator of the temple worship comes to mind, too.
What a picture of the way we must live, guarding the precious relationship we have with Jesus all the time, worshiping continually and living in vigilance because He’s coming back. Worship in the night hours, when the enemy wants to take our rest, expresses confidence in His plan.
The words wait and serve are almost the same in Hebrew. Oh Lord, teach me to wait.
You are right; the enemy likes to attack us, especially at night time. May I lift my heart to the Lord, to be confident in His plans.
Yes Luwana, we must stand on guard at all times but especially at night when the thief comes unannounced. We must protect what is valuable, starting with our relationship with God. Good Word!