Standing watch

 This week's verse is Habakkuk 2:1

I will stand on my guard post
And station myself on the rampart;
And I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me,
And how I may reply when I am reproved.

 I found this verse recently, nestled in between the prophet's cries to God about the suffering and injustice in his land, and God's sharp reply to him. Habakkuk is comparing his prayer vigil to the act of standing guard.

Guard duty is something that doesn't multitask well. We see this in movies where the hero is trying to break into some facility and succeeds because the guards are playing cards or watching TV and don't see him tiptoeing past on the wall of camera monitors behind them.

A good guard is focused on standing watch. When we pray and expect an answer, we should be attentive and focused for the answer, not scrolling our phones or listing to music or whatever else we think we can multitask.

The effective guard stations himself on the rampart. He chooses a place to stand watch where he can actually watch. If the enemy appears or if his commander calls for him, he is not inside with his friends or off having dinner. He is ready for action.

When we pray and expect answers, we should choose a place that is suitable for prayer, where we won't be interrupted or be asked to move or be distracted by any of the sorts of distractions that typically come up right in the moment when we're serious about getting down to pray.

Habakkuk is alert, focused, and ready to listen for what God will say to him. And he is prepared to be challenged, maybe even rebuked. He is expecting a dialog, a relationship. That's a great attitude to have towards prayer.

We often pray one-sided prayers, not expecting an answer. Or we imagine that God will adopt our morality and answer us positively, rather than calling out the injustices we personally have participated in to produce the situation we are complaining to him about.

Advent is sometimes described as a season of keeping watch for the return of Christ. So it is a great opportunity to practice this sort of "watchtower" prayer, where we bring a subject up before God, and wait patiently, maybe even deep into the night, to see what he will answer us with, and how we might be challenged to be better Christians.

So, give it a try this week: pick a subject, consecrate some time in your schedule, find a place where you can be alone and uninterrupted, make peace with the idea that you could be challenged personally, bring things before God, and wait attentively to see what happens.