I’m thinking of the twenty or thirty minutes just before the first inkling of dawn. How ironic it is that now as I am older and could sleep in, I can’t. One of my windows faces due east, and while I don’t want our neighbors to think that I’m staring at them, I have become somewhat of a watcher for the dawn.

The Psalmist made an interesting statement in Psalm 130:5-6. He said, “I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in His Word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.”

Here he describes the eager anticipation of the nightly guards around the city and specifically at the site of the Temple as they stood guarding their assigned territories throughout the night. They were carefully guarding and yet eagerly anticipating the first rays of the day when their assignment would be completed and the daily activities would commence.

I need to be one who waits (to be looking for, expecting, bound together) on the Lord and is watching (guarding, keeping, observing, and taking heed) what the Lord tells me in His Word. What a vivid picture for those of us who have become “watchers for the dawn.”

For today: Regardless of when you arise, be one who waits and watches today!