Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night watches!
Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord!
Lift your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street.

Lamentations 2:19 ESV


Friday, July 22, 2016

Waiting Watchwomen

Waiting always requires patience. In the New Testament, the word often used for “patient” is the Greek word “hupomone.” This is another word for endurance. One of my favorite Old Testament pictures of this is in Psalm 131.
 
O Eternal One, my heart is not occupied with proud thoughts; my eyes do not look down on others; I don’t even begin to get involved in matters too big, matters of faith, state, business, or the many things that defy my ability to understand them. Of one thing I am certain: my soul has become calm, quiet, and contented in You. Like a weaned child resting upon his mother, I am quiet. My soul is like this weaned child. O Israel, stake your trust completely in the Eternal—from this very moment and into the vast future.
(The Voice)
 
We lean back into the Lord and trust Him while we are waiting. However, that doesn’t mean we “do” nothing. We are to wait actively. A visiting pastor to our church recently noted that our waiting is to be “full attention waiting.” It’s the waiting of the watchman. Merriam-Webster defines a watchman as “a person whose job [it] is to watch and guard property at night or when the owners are away.”
 
One Hebrew word for “watchman” is the word “tsaphah” which gives the sense of someone bending forward in order to view, even lying in wait. Another word, shamar, is used even to describe someone who not only guards but also preserves, as with lovingkindness, which involved keeping someone/something in mind. As the pastor, Becci Curtis, said, this is full attention waiting.
 
Moms, we are, yes, to endure, leaning on the chest of our Lord. But, we are also to be actively guarding our children through our prayers, watching for the Lord’s answers AND not leaving our post. Our voices are not to be quiet. They should be continually speaking the Word of Truth into our children’s lives—in prayer and in instruction. Just as Ezekiel, what we learn from the Word, the mouth of God, is to be passed on to our children. (3:17),
 
It’s what a watchwoman does—she waits, watches and speaks the Truth.

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