Night watch. Our God neither slumbers nor sleeps (Psalm 121).
And sometimes He wakes us in the night. To watch and pray.
I remember when the two emails arrived. One after the other. To our inbox in Karachi.
Same time. Same message. Traveling across the world. From opposite sides of the United States.
Pray
One email came from my college roommate, living in Florida. The other? From a pastor we knew in Arizona.
Both of these friends woke up in the middle of the night. And obeyed a prompting to pray for us.
Each one expressed a sense of urgency. And asked if we were okay.
Night watch.
Curious
To this day we don’t know what those prayers were about. In the time frame they noted, we were going about daily tasks in Karachi.
Their night was our day.
It was a particularly violent season of our city’s history. Maybe we’d been protected from danger.
We were curious, of course. Thought back through the day and all that had taken place.
He knows
We never figured out the specific reasons. And didn’t need to. Because we rested in the truth about our Savior.
He is the Good Shepherd. Our Shield and Shelter. The Rock of our salvation.
Our Lord has His eye on each of His children (Psalm 33:18-22). He knows the path that we take. Sees every detail of our situations. Never leaves or forsakes us.
And sometimes He wakes His people in the night to pray.
That day, our hearts were deeply comforted. Encouraged. Sustained.
Night watch
Now those two emails come to mind when I wake in the night.
Sometimes a specific person or situation is heavy on my heart. And I pray. Other times? I’ve got nothing.
So, in those night watch moments I simply lift up family members. Or friends. Countries and their leaders. The lost. The suffering.
Lately I’ve been repeating Psalm 23 and drifting back to sleep.
This gives purpose to sleepless nights. A plan for defeating anxious thoughts and imagined scenarios. I can participate in His will instead of dwelling on mine.
Meditate on Him
In the wilderness, David had sleepless nights. But turned his focus to the Lord.
“When I think of You as I lie on my bed,
I meditate on You during the night watches
because You are my helper;
I will rejoice in the shadow of Your wings.
I follow close to You;
Your right hand holds on to me.”
Psalm 63:6-8 CSB
Stay alert
From prison, Paul reminded believers to put on spiritual armor for the spiritual battle. And concluded with a strong word about prayer.
“Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession
for all the saints.”
Ephesians 6:18
At all times. Day and night.
Watch and pray.
Pray
Sometimes we will wake in the night. For a purpose. Night watch.
Focus on Him. Stay alert.
And pray.
What about you?
Have you experienced a prompting to pray in the middle of the night? What has the Lord taught you about the night watch?
Related posts
Be alert and pray – Distracted – Trust Me – Pray continually – Prodigal, part 1 – Prodigal, part 2 – Pray for the persecuted – What if? – Last word, His Word –
9 replies on “Night watch”
I had a season recently that I was awake for a couple of hours in the middle of the night. Almost every night. So I decided to pray for friends and pictured a map of the US and began praying by location. I have to confess that I probably forgot some people or misplaced their location! And I never crossed the entire country without falling asleep. It is a good use of time that might otherwise be filled with worry or anxious thoughts.
Sometimes I do feel prompted to pray during the night. Other times I just seem to be awake. One thing my grandmother taught me is to go through the alphabet and name a character trait of God for each letter and thank Him for each one.
Oh, that’s a good plan 🙂 Thanks for sharing. And thank You, Lord, for godly grandmothers.
Good idea! Although that might wake me up more….
I love this idea about praying through the map :). I’ll have to try it!
When our children were young and Hu was away in conferences, meetings, etc. sometimes for extended periods (both in the USA and in Pakistan) I found myself unable to sleep soundly. Always worried about the what ifs, or supposing this or that would happen. And I was all alone. Hearing noises around the outside added to the anxiety. Fear. Once. in the middle of the night I called a relative to come and investigate the outside noise! Tossing and turning through the night reduced my energy for responsibilities during the day as well as giving me a terrible disposition. What was I to do? One especially difficult night while praying I remembered verses from Psalm 121, “…He who watches over you will not slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you.” Suddenly I realized there is no need for me to lay awake with my anxieties and cares when GOD NEVER SLEEPS nor does He ever DOZE (slumbers)! He is watching over me! Perhaps God was reminding a sleepless person somewhere in the world to pray for me. Who knows?
Thank you so much for sharing this, Bettie. I remember going through the same thing in Karachi as Todd was away. One night the Lord spoke to me through Psalm 3:3-6…that I could lie down and sleep, trusting His shield around us, no matter what might happen. Peace came. I fell sound asleep.
Sometimes I wonder if one of our activities in heaven will be learning about the behind-the-scenes scenarios of the Lord’s working during our lives–someone’s urge to pray leading to an opening or some kind or protection, a frustrating situation like a traffic jam keeping us away from what would have been a wreck, etc. I hope so. That would be neat to hear.
Sometimes when I wake up during the night, my thoughts ping-pong around the day’s activities, the next day’s plans, or any number of random things. But sometimes I concentrate on praying. At the very least, praying is a better use of the time than fretting about the lack of sleep. But who knows what things are wrought by those night watches–probably more than we know.
Yes, that would be amazing to hear. And it spurs me on to keep praying at His prompting. While we’re talking about activities in heaven…I want to hear Jesus share all that He shared with the disciples on the road to Emmaus…! Grace to you.