Keep Watch

Daily Reading: Matthew 25

Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. (Matthew 25.13)

Devotional Thought: As I write this devotional, I am keeping watch out the front window for "Mr. Appliance."  I called him earlier today because I needed someone to work on my freezer.  While I don't know the exact time of his arrival, I know that he's coming.  Therefore, I am watching.

We know that Jesus is coming, too.  We do not know when, but we do know that he is.  So we keep watch.  What does it mean to keep watch?

• It means to pray.  In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus urgently prayed for help from his Father, and he urged his disciples to "watch and pray."  As we wait for the return of Jesus, it is imperative that we pray.  We will face tribulations as the Lord’s return nears, and our strength in trial depends upon our intimacy with the Father, just as did Jesus' strength in his great trial.

• It means to stay awake.  The problem with the prayerless disciples was not unwillingness but sleepiness: "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." How true that is!  Our culture has numbed us into a state of lethargy and apathy.  We need to be aware of the deteriorating conditions of this present age. 

• It means to focus on spiritual things.  God is always speaking, but we must be listening.  God is always working, but we must be attentive.  God is always present, but we must be available.

• It means to guard those entrusted to us.  We not only must keep watch for ourselves, we also must keep watch for our children, our brothers and sisters in Christ, our churches, our communities, even the lost sheep.  We must be like the watchman on the wall in the book of Ezekiel.

Keep watch!

Prayer: Lord, I thank you that you have warned us to keep watch.  Help me to  be ready for your return - constant in prayer, wide awake, spiritually engaged, and watching over others.  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 92:1-9

1 It is good to praise the LORDand make music to your name, O Most High,

2 proclaiming your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night,

3 to the music of the ten-stringed lyre and the melody of the harp.

4 For you make me glad by your deeds, LORD; I sing for joy at what your hands have done.

5 How great are your works, LORD, how profound your thoughts!

6 Senseless people do not know, fools do not understand,

7 that though the wicked spring up like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever.

8 But you, LORD, are forever exalted.

9 For surely your enemies, LORD, surely your enemies will perish; all evildoers will be scattered.