A Confident Watchman

Meditating on Psalm 130, Eugene Peterson tells a story about a job he had as a night watchman in a big building. He writes, “If I had not known that there were others in charge of the building, I might not have been content to just be a watchman and collect my pay. If I were not confident that the building had an owner who cared about it, if I did not know that there was a building engineer who kept it in good order and repair, if I did not know that there were hundreds of people in the building who were going about their work everyday quite capably—if I had not known these things, I might not have been so relaxed in making idle gossip with women of the night and old men of storied pasts. Nor would the psalmist have been content to be a watchman if he were not sure of God. The psalmist’s and the Christian’s waiting and watching—that is, hoping—is based on the conviction that God is actively involved in his creation and vigorously at work in redemption. (Peterson, A Long Obedience, loc, 1218–23).