Summary & Key points
Ps. Elisha stressed the importance of God’s word in offering hope, clarity, and guidance, especially during challenging times. Drawing from Habakkuk’s raw honesty with God, he explained that expressing frustration and confusion is a natural part of faith. Just as Habakkuk questioned if God hears and cares amidst injustice, Ps. Elisha encouraged the congregation to adopt a posture of "waiting in faith," grounded in patience and spiritual vigilance.
Ps. Elisha elaborated on the watchtower metaphor in Habakkuk 2:1, where the watchtower symbolizes a position of spiritual alertness and expectation. In ancient cities, watchmen on the walls could spot potential dangers or messages, representing a "higher perspective." He encouraged believers to:
- Remain vigilant and guard their hearts and minds.
- Expect God’s guidance, even when they do not fully understand.
- Avoid relying solely on their own understanding or the opinions of others.
- Waiting builds a deeper, honest relationship with God.
- God’s promises unfold at His appointed time (Isaiah 55:8-9).
- Believers should trust that His higher ways have purpose.
God’s word is always relevant. It’s not an archaic, you know, document, you know. It’s not an ancient relic. It is something that keeps us alive. It gives us hope, it gives us clarity, it gives us direction.
In the last two weeks, I kind of did chapter one of Habakkuk’s frustration with God. Anyone honest enough to say, “Sometimes I get frustrated with God?” Come on. Any more honest people here? All right, come on.
How many of us get a bit disillusioned with God? Oh, come on, Church. You know the truth will set us free, yeah?
And sometimes we wonder, “Does God hear my prayer?”
Right? “God, are you there? If you are there, please remember my address.”
So, we struggle then.
Today, I want to look at a few key scriptures, and my whole thought will be framed in this one thought: waiting in faith.
Habakkuk chapter 2, verse 1:
He says, I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts.
You may say, “What is this?” Okay, this is the NIV. Let me simplify it.
In ancient times, they built walls around their cities. When you watch all your movies or series, whether it’s the ancient, ancient times—whatever it is, the castles—you realize there were walls all around the city.
So, when you read the Old Testament and they talk about the walls, okay, you have a picture in your mind.
Here he is saying, after he has very honest conversations with God—he expresses his frustration, and he’s saying, “God, I don’t think you’re hearing. God, I think you are acting wrongly. And if you are so good, if you’re so great as you said you are…”
Quite an honest conversation, isn’t it?
Then, “Look around you. Look at the injustice.”
We look at our world. We look at our country. We say there’s a lot of injustice, there’s a lot of corruption, there is a lot of pain, there’s a lot of wrong that is taking place.
“Is there a God? Yes, there’s a God.”
But many times, we don’t know how to acknowledge there’s a God.
You know, this morning was a beautiful conversation with the children again, you know, about not telling something that is truth.
“So, is it wrong?”
“Yeah.”
“Why? Why do you do that?”
“Because I don’t want to get into trouble.”
But the issue is this: Why do something that will get you into trouble?
Why do it?
You know, but we have a generation—or we have a society—that has no shame doing wrong.
In fact, wrong is said to be right.
You know, we look at all the headlines, we look at all these different things, and he laments in chapter one.
And God says, “You think this is bad? It’s going to get worse because I’m dealing with things.”
And that is where we struggle.
“God, we don’t understand your way. God, we don’t understand how you do things and how.”
So, he says, “Look.”
After he laments, he says, “Okay, I am going to take my stand.”
That means he gives this picture of standing up on the wall.
In ancient times, the ramparts are called a watchtower. It’s not just one single piece of architecture—it’s on the walls.
You have a little structure coming out. It’s all around the wall, and they have watchmen. They were the original jaga and security guards.
So, they stand there, and they have this view of the entire terrain, and they can see who is coming and what’s happening.
So, he said, I will stand.
Very descriptive. He said, I will stand. That means I take my position.
And at my watch, he said, “I’m going to watch.”
What did we call earlier days? What did we call the jaga?
“Watchmen.”
Correct.
Those of you Millennials…
“Gen Z,” you say?
“Watch? I know this watch. You know, Apple watch. Watchmen? Don’t know.”
I will look to see what he will say to me.
He says, “I’m going to anticipate that God will speak and what answer I am to give to this complaint. I’m going to look at it. How is God going to respond to me? What’s going to happen here?”
Oh dear. Oh, it’s here. Well, thank you, man. Well, you’ve been watching.
Okay, thank you. I’m like, “What happened? Something disappeared here.”
Okay, so the position is very clear.
For the sake of conversation here today, I’m not going to call it a rampart; I’m going to call it a watchtower.
A watchtower, which some of the different versions will use.
Now, I’m going to also apply this in a spiritual context in our everyday life, okay? And it represents one thing very clearly: the position of expectation and patience.
If you’re writing your notes, okay, this: the position of expectation, patience, and spiritual vigilance.
So, what’s the significance of the watchtower?
I’ve explained the imagery to you—in ancient times, how they used it, why they used it.
It’s the highest position that a person can have.
It’s the highest position that a person can have.
All right, and how many of you saw Lord of the Rings as well? Yeah, so all these different ones, you have a person positioned, watching and seeing what’s happening.
You see for the enemy. You look out for the enemy.
Or, in ancient days, they would send a messenger, and interestingly, for them, they could recognize by the clothes and the way the person ran. They knew who the messenger was.
That’s amazing, actually.
That’s something else I want to go and find out and research about, and think and ask the hard question and say, “How did they know that? What was the technique they used?”
You know, very intriguing, isn’t it?
They actually knew who that person could be.
So, they look out for enemies. They look out for messengers. And they are ready to sound the alarm.
Now, the alarm would be either positive or negative.
You know, they’ll say, “Hey, somebody is coming,” and how they were going to listen—how they were going to deliver that message to the city, to everybody else.
All right?
So, the whole thing—it was a place of vigilance, where a person stayed alert to potential danger or important developments.
That means they could not be sitting down and making TikTok movies for themselves.
They couldn’t be watching YouTube and binging on Netflix, because if they were looking at something else, the enemy could have approached, breached the wall, and taken the city.
And sometimes, when we are not alert, there’s no vigilance in the sense of guarding our hearts, our minds, our lives.
Things creep into our lives.
We don’t even realize they’re creeping, and then we wake up one day and realize, “There’s a problem. How did this get so severe? What happened?”
So, it’s a place of vigilance.
If you hire a security guard, do you want him to be sleeping?
No.
No, you want him to be alert and awake.
And isn’t it interesting?
This symbol here is used—it’s so symbolic and how it speaks to us as people of God.
So, it’s a place—now, if you go to Matthew—don’t go there, let me just give you—if you go to Matthew chapter 24, you can find this different places.
Jesus is speaking, and he says, “Stay awake. Keep alert, for you do not know when I will return.”
We pause here.
We look. We live in a world that is crumbling.
Does the Bible speak about that? Yes.
It says God is returning.
I had an interesting conversation with a Muslim friend, and we were talking about the recent headlines.
I did it carefully, and he said this to me:
“Issa has to come back faster.”
Because in their literature, Issa is the Holy One that comes to judge—Jesus.
I said, “Yes. He has to come quickly. So how are you and me getting ready?”
Healthy conversation, not silly conversation.
We know each other long enough.
He said, “Yeah.”
I said, “Very painful, isn’t it? We look at our country.”
He said, “Very difficult.”
I said, “And it’s him. He says Issa must come back faster.”
Our world.
I said, “That’s true. Issa has to come back. Are we ready?”
Jesus says, “Watch, that you…”
And Jesus goes on to say another part of chapter 24:
He says, “If you knew the thief was coming at a certain time, and if you were watching, he would not be able to steal from your home.”
The devil comes except not to do what?
Steal, kill, and destroy.
It kind of works together.
To be watchful.
Jesus, at the last moments in the Garden of Gethsemane, he says, “Could you not watch one hour with me? Could you not pray? Could you not stand in the watchtower? Could you not just be alert for just this moment?”
He says, “Keep watch. Keep alert, for you do not know.”
Because we do not know what tomorrow holds, right?
It’ll be good to be watchful today, right?
For tomorrow.
And tomorrow, let’s be watchful.
So, let’s be watchful in this season.
And again, I want to encourage you. It’s simple, but it keeps us to the place. Say, “I want to stand on that watchtower. I want to be watchful. I want to be ready for what 2025 comes.”
Budget: cut down your sugar, okay?”
So, watchful.
So, Habakkuk uses this image, this symbolism, to symbolize what? A spiritual posture—a posture of our hearts.
He—you know, again, chapter one—he expresses his confusion. He says, “I don’t understand God.”
Today, we’re singing, Oh God, great are you, Lord.
He said, “God, I don’t feel so great right now.”
So, he’s saying, “God, I don’t understand. You say you’re so great, but what’s happening? Look at this nation.”
So, sometimes, you say, “God, where are you? What’s happening to my country, to my life, to my family, to my health, to my finances, my work, my future? God, what’s happening?”
So, he says, in this confusion, and he laments to God, right?
But now he says, “I’m going to position myself. I’m going to watch, and I’m going to wait for your response, God.”
So, what does it signify? What we just read.
It signifies this: the readiness to receive a message, even if he does not understand or like the answer.
Sometimes, children are very happy. Come and ask for something. But they never anticipate the answer we’re going to give.
Sometimes:
“Can I—”
“Ask.”
“What?”
“No.”
“But cannot?”
“Hey, you said ask.”
“Yes, I said ask. But I don’t think you need this.”
Do we do it to God?
We cannot see the wisdom. And what do we very wisely say, parents?
“One day, you will be a parent. Then you will know.”
That’s not the best answer.
We don’t understand. We don’t like the answer.
But he takes this posture of patience.
A person at the watchtower has to be patient, isn’t it? Patience.
What else? Attentiveness.
We have to be attentive.
“Pay attention. Can you pay attention? Why are you talking when I’m talking? Come on, pay attention here!”
A teacher in class: “Are you paying attention?”
Those days, we had methods.
It’s called throwing the duster on the head.
Some of you don’t even know what duster—“What is duster? You know?”
Walk out of class, the other fellow walks out of class, got one white patch here.
What, uh—you all know he was target practice for the math teacher. That dungu wasn’t paying attention.
The young fellow: “Huh?”
Happens, yes, our time.
So, pay attention.
Pay attention.
Every time you hear, Jesus says, “Hey, look. See. Pay attention.”
The scripture is always telling us, “Hey, come on, keep awake, keep alert, pay attention.”
But we have a lot of distractions.
A lot of distractions that get us.
In the morning, from the word “go,” we have distractions.
Bling, bling, bling, bling, bling.
Depends how your messages come. You know, all kinds of things that come through.
Okay, so like…
But when you hear something at 3 in the morning, it’s a good message coming through—it’s from me!
And that one you must read straight away and say, “Great are you…”
(Laughter)
“Lord!”
Don’t turn around and say, “Go to sleep, Pastor!” Don’t go and say that.
Turn around and say, “God, bless my pastor. Bless him.”
“Pastor, you… bless!”
I’m sure you do that, right?
So, it says here…
So, he takes that posture of patience, attentiveness—
(Clattering sound)
What happened? Everything dropping already.
Okay.
Attentiveness, and—this—the willingness to wait for God’s response.
The willingness to wait for God’s response.
Okay, that’s my first layer down.
So, let me go to the next thought here.
The Spiritual Posture of the Watchtower
If I’m—God says, “Watch,”—what’s the posture that I’m supposed to take?
Again, the watchtower symbolizes what? A place of spiritual alertness and expectation.
Expectation, very important.
Habakkuk made a decision. He’s going to stand at the watchtower.
What does it represent to us?
It represents a commitment to seek God’s perspective rather than relying on our own understanding, our own feelings, or what others say.
See, today, a lot of people interpret what’s happening in the world.
I call them “shocks and aiya.”
We interpret.
We look at things. We interpret.
Even Jesus said, he said, “You look at the sky. You interpret the weather. But can you interpret what’s really going to happen?”
And that’s why he says, “Watch. Be ready.”
“Hey, you do not know when the Son of Man will return.”
Because an interesting word Jesus uses, he said, “He will come like a thief in the night.”
That means, when I’m least expecting, he comes.
And he says, “Are you ready?”
Remember the five foolish virgins and the five wise virgins?
The five foolish ones never prepared themselves.
The other five had their oil ready, their wicks trimmed, and they were ready for the bridegroom when he came.
And then, when he took them away, closed the door, the five foolish said, “Hey, open the door!”
But before that, they asked the other five, “Give us the oil.”
They said, “Sorry, it’s for us.”
Actually, it’s a very prophetic picture of the end times—being ready in our hearts, in our minds, in our lives.
Being watchful.
Because when the Lord returns, it’s a very dramatic thing.
It’s a very dramatic event.
And it’s life-defining, if I can say—it’s eternity-defining.
So, there’s expectation.
If I fail to take this position, dear ones—please, hear my heart on this. Hear the heart of the Lord on this.
If I fail to take this position, this posture, and my feelings are the ones that dictate how I do this—how I take the posture—my opinions dictate, the influence of other people dictate, then the danger is, when the message comes, I miss it.
I miss.
“You hear God?”
“I cannot hear.”
Because it’s so noisy.
Would you not agree? Our world is a very noisy world, don’t you think so?
Very noisy, isn’t it?
Very noisy world—from handphones, social media, issues—very noisy world.
And interestingly, would you not think that it has a bit more meaning now, what we call “quiet time”?
Being quiet. Quiet our hearts down. Quiet our minds down. And say, “God, speak to me. Speak to me.”
So, Habakkuk places himself on the watchtower.
Very strategic.
Why?
He acknowledges that while he may not understand God’s ways, he believes that God has a plan and will communicate it in time.
Because remember, chapter one—he’s lamenting.
He said, “I really don’t understand your ways. I really don’t know why you’re doing this. You say you’re this, but look at this. And God, come on, look. Why am I experiencing this?”
So, very clearly here, he says, “Even when I don’t understand”—and this is our challenge—“when I don’t understand, I walk away.”
I walk away.
“When I don’t get what I want, I walk away.”
And we see that in relationships, in friendships, in marriages.
What?
“I don’t get it. I walk away.”
Kids don’t get what they want—they walk out of home.
How damaging.
How damaging.
We fail to see and understand that God has a plan.
So, sometimes it’s to pause.
Waiting is also an act of humility.
That means I’m humble enough to say, “I don’t understand.”
Remember the father I talked about last week?
“Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.”
The father who needed healing for his son—he’s saying, “I know the truth, but I find it hard to connect it. Will you please help me?”
And that’s having an honest conversation with God.
And God—God’s not going to get upset with us.
And Habakkuk shows us that—have raw, honest conversations.
I love reading the Psalms.
I think it’s the book I read most in the Bible.
Why?
Because in it, I hear my frustrations. Raw conversations with God.
David is so upset, he says, “Kill all these people.”
Can you imagine?
You stand up and say, “Kill my boss.”
By some of your responses, some of you would like your boss to be dead.
Okay, yeah, yeah, you know.
And God is not going to say, “Choy! Cannot talk like that!”
God is not going to talk—you see, we have a funny concept of God.
And God says, “Come on, pour your raw feelings in conversations.”
Ladies and gentlemen, do we love honest conversations?
Can we handle honest conversations?
God can.
But we—we have to be patient to hear.
We must stand there.
So, it’s an act of humility.
It’s an act of trust.
“I don’t understand, Lord, but I’m going to take this position and this posture. I’m not going to walk away. I’m going to seek you daily. And God, I’m going to see it through. You’re going to see me through this.”
It’s also a place of submission.
It’s hard to submit, isn’t it?
“God, I submit to you.”
It’s recognizing that God’s timing and methods are beyond our comprehension.
So, Habakkuk 2:3 says this:
For the revelation awaits at an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait.
The word is there—we hate that word.
Wait for it.
“They that…”
We’ll read the scripture later.
“They that wait upon the Lord.”
“I waited upon the Lord. I…”
“God, give me patience now! Now, I want the patience.”
“Okay, will you wait patiently?”
“No, wait. Wait. I waited two minutes already. How much longer?”
Wait for it.
It will certainly come and will not delay.
“You said delay! So long already!”
The delay is God’s timing, not ours.
Is this making sense, friends?
So, we understand that.
So, this scripture amplifies again what Habakkuk seems to be understanding of God’s answer—that it will come, but not immediately, but that he needs to trust God’s promise, that God will fulfill his promise in his time.
And we sing that old song, isn’t it?
In His time, He makes all things beautiful.
In His time, He makes all things beautiful.
So, the watchtower today is this: it’s a spiritual perspective, active.
So, the concept is this: it’s a place of spiritual focus and prayerful expectation.
Again, do this—30 days. Pause. Get that space with God.
A place of spiritual focus and prayerful expectation, where we wait on God and seek His direction.
The year is coming to an end.
We are planning the year, right?
We’re planning 2025, right?
But you see, I’m planning 2025 with my wisdom, with my desire, with my drive, my purpose.
And I say, “God now…”
“Hey, God, where are you?”
God says, “You never asked me when.”
Come on, is this making sense?
You know, sometimes, again, home, whatever—we decide, “Okay, let’s go.”
Or the wife or the husband will say, “Go where?”
You see, we make plans, but we don’t sit down and ask.
Or the kids make plans. Things happen.
So, we make plans without God, and then we say, “God, where are you?”
God says, “The first place there was I was without you—or without Me—when you made the plans.”
So now you want Me to be with you for the plan?
Sounds funny, isn’t it?
So, 2025—like I said, it’s about 70 days.
As you pause and you think, I hope you all are writing goals, huh?
Goals. Pursuit.
This is something I did recently.
I did my goals for five years.
Why?
I want to cut the fluff out. I want to go for what—why?
This is no emoting.
This is my last lap in life.
However long, that’s the Lord’s business. Amen?
However long is the Lord’s business.
But maybe the Lord has spoken something to my heart, and I’m saying, “God, if I’m hearing You right, I better get this one right.”
Are you with me?
I better get this right.
Five years.
So, NCC, what do we want?
You personally, in your life—maybe you have health goals.
What is your health goal?
What is your career goal?
What is your educational goal?
What is your relationship—family—what are the goals?
But will you pause and say, “God, when I write these goals, will You be the…”
“Can You lead it? Can You help me that I plan it with You in the center of it?”
Your finances—is God in the center of your finances, or does He get tips from you?
Which one?
Goals to reach people.
What are your goals?
Bucket list—“I want to go to Alaska.” Sure.
How about building character?
Hey, what are your goals?
Hard question: What are your goals for your own church?
Do you have a goal?
We’re going to present that.
I’m going to present that.
I’m going to say, “This is where we’re going to go in 2025.”
And we need to have a heart and a mind—a spiritual perspective, a focus—standing on the rampart and saying, “Lord, You’re returning. I need to get my life straight. I need to get my perspectives right.”
So even as I get up, I pursue my business, I pursue my work, my position—all the different things—to impress people, impress my boss, get the budget, get my bonus too.
Hey, the Lord is returning.
Not the stock market taking you home.
Very important.
I can achieve all my goals.
I can achieve—I have, you know, for studying—get to Oxford, get to Cambridge, Princeton.
I’ve done it.
I’ve got my degrees.
But was it something good God was leading you to?
Maybe it was a better degree that you could have done with Him.
Are you with me?
Very important.
So, if you’re your family, think of goals.
Ask yourself, “Hey, maybe you want to start cooking from next year.”
Fine.
No need to be so spiritual.
“God, in Jesus’ name, lead me. What should I cook?”
No need to do all that.
Just go to the market, buy, and cook.
No need drama. Isn’t it?
Just go and do it. All right.
So, I say all this to come back to this—a place of spiritual focus and prayerful expectation, where we wait on God and seek His direction.
If you take notes, you write the word “direction.”
Circle it.
Even amidst confusion and challenge.
This is where most believers miss God.
How? Why?
We won’t wait.
We do not want to wait.
We cannot wait for God’s timing.
We do not want to wait for God’s direction.
Because I am the captain of my ship.
And then when the ship doesn’t sail, we curse God.
We say, “Ah, disillusioned. Ah, Christianity.”
No.
Can I let go and say, “Okay, boss, You hold the rudder.”
Can I put my arm around You so that now and then I can nudge You and say, “Can we go this side or not?”
See, Church, that’s the challenge in our life.
Because we’re all very individualistic, right?
We’re very—we want to make decisions on our own.
But can we hear God’s plan for our lives?
But can we hear God’s plan for our lives?
Waiting on Him.
Again, I want to encourage you, not just the 30 days, but mark down on your calendar. Tomorrow onwards, don’t take five minutes.
I really want to push this with you.
Minimum—do it 20 minutes, 30 minutes.
Come on. Let me—I want to push you to it.
Come on, Church. We can do it.
Remember, I said this last week. My whole premise is to strengthen you in faith—to make you strong disciples.
Not fluffy discipleship.
Not shallow Christianity.
But strong believers who know their Lord, who walk with their Lord, who demonstrate Him, who live that life with clear perspective and understanding.
Amen?
That’s not too much to ask, right?
Is that too much to ask?
Because I’ve got to do my part.
So, I’m not going to give you fluffy, you know, strobe lights, smoke machines. No. I’m not going to do all that.
We’re not going to do that as a church.
We want to get to know the Lord.
Here’s how the concept is applied to our lives:
A Place of Prayer and Reflection
Just don’t say, “Pray.”
Remember, the place of reflection.
And down the road, we will—I will talk about it. I will teach on it.
What does it mean to reflect on God’s Word? And how do we do reflection daily so that we hear God’s voice clearly?
Okay?
So, the watchtower symbolizes what?
Creating intentional space in our lives.
Okay?
Intentional space for what?
For prayer.
What else? For listening.
So, there’s a term called listening prayer.
Most of the time, it’s talking prayer.
But we don’t know how to have a listening time in prayer.
And that is something, Church, I’m telling you—what’s going to happen in 2025—I’m going to do all these different things and say, “I want to draw you in listening prayer so you become confident. You know you can hear the voice of God. You have clarity in your heart and in your mind.”
So, listening prayer.
So, seeking God’s guidance, so we are clear.
We have courage and boldness.
We have heard God.
Oh, sorry, that’s not God.
It’s okay.
It may not be a physical place, but if you have a physical place at home—whatever—praise God. Do it.
Okay?
But it’s a spiritual discipline.
If there’s a book you want to pick, it’s Spiritual Disciplines by Richard Foster.
It’s not difficult. It’s fantastic.
If you want to frame your life to be very consistent, they’ve got a workbook with it and all that stuff.
Anyway, let me come back to this.
So, it’s a spiritual discipline that positions what? Our hearts to hear from God.
I’m not surprised—I’m discouraged at times when I realize believers do not know how to hear the voice of God.
They’re so good at hearing other people, other things, but they cannot hear the voice of God.
It’s not audible.
They do not know how to hear God.
It’s nothing supernatural.
It’s not something unique only a few can do.
If God didn’t want to speak to us, He would have not said, “Hear My voice.”
Come on, right?
Makes sense.
He would have not said, “Hear My voice.”
“Hear what voice? I hear other noises. I hear my wife’s noise—voice, no, no—my wife’s voice.”
No.
“I hear everybody else’s voice.”
No.
God spoke. That means we can hear His voice.
It may not be an audible voice, but God speaks through His Word, through different things, and He speaks to our heart. He stirs our mind.
Amen?
So, we must understand that.
So, the thing is this: I’m perplexed. I’m discouraged because we do not know how to hear the voice of God.
Some do not know how to hear.
Some do not want to hear because it’s going to alter the direction of their life.
So, I may as well have a fluffy, shallow Christianity.
“I’m not going to go for the Word because I know the Word is going to be a mirror. It’s going to challenge me. It’s going to tell me, ‘Sort my life out. Sort my attitude out. Sort my thinking out. Sort my marriage out. Sort my relationships out. Sort my character out.’”
All these different things—my integrity, my honesty, my credibility—it’s going to challenge me.
It’s going to tell me, “Clean my language out. It’s going to tell me how I serve other people. It’s going to tell me how I encourage other people. It’s going to tell me how I live for God.”
I say, “No, I don’t want it. I don’t want this.”
But, “God, just bless my work.”
So, this is the challenge.
I will not make an effort to seek God.
Habakkuk said, “I will stand on the rampart. I will watch. I’m going to position myself, God, because it has to make sense. I have to hear You. I have to get this clarity in my life.”
So, Habakkuk positioned himself to hear a word from the Lord.
So, just like what happened with him, you and I are also called to make time to hear His voice.
Church, come. Let’s build that altar.
Don’t let it lie dormant. Build that altar.
All of us can—boys, girls, men, women, everybody—young, old—all of us can.
And that’s why I did this for the children as well.
I worked at it, and I said, “I want to do it for the children as well because I want the children to know, ‘Hey, you can hear God.’”
Especially during challenging seasons of life, for the years ahead, the uncertainties that we face, the watchtower can mean what?
Setting aside regular time.
Will you decide?
So, if my brain is flooded with all kinds of videos through the night, morning brain fried already—got fog already—you know, brain fog.
You got a brain fog.
So, the moment you look at wanting to read the Word, no mood.
So, the Watchman… already gone.
So, set regular time.
Decide.
Can I really challenge you today?
Think about it at the end. Think about it.
Set the regular time—morning, noontime, evening—but set it.
Parents, I really want to challenge you—do it with your kids.
Do it. All of us—do it.
Let’s do it.
Set aside regular time for prayer and the Word.
So, if you notice in my devotion that I wrote, I only give scripture reference.
That means you’ve got to open your Bible and read.
Seeking God’s perspective instead of merely reacting to circumstances.
Psalms 5:3 says, In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice. In the morning, I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.
It’s not just speaking, it’s also listening—waiting expectantly.
Commitment to patience and trust.
Waiting on God, dear Church.
Prayer, reading the Word—it involves patience and discipline, doesn’t it?
It does.
Waiting for an answer from God involves patience.
It’s a virtue that contradicts our modern instant gratification culture.
Young people, quick question—how many of you know what the first computer sounded like when you hit the internet?
Dee-dee-dee-da-da-da-da.
How many of you remember that?
How many of the older ones remember that?
I see. I know who the older ones are—heads moving!
All the young ones are like, “What are you talking about?”
So, the issue is this—why am I saying this?
We have instant gratification.
We click, and we’re like, “Why so long?”
Actually, it was just four seconds.
We want it quick—quick, quick, quick.
5G—now we want 7G.
Jump one, only do six, do seven.
They want information.
Come on, let’s do it. AI—come on, come on.
Listen, it’s a tool.
But the tool says to me, “Treat God the same way.”
So, Patrina asks me, “When do you want this?”
I say, “Yesterday.”
She looks at me.
I say, “Okay.”
Which means I need it quick.
So do we.
But they that wait on the Lord,—that means I slow down.
Jesus says, “Could you not watch with me for one hour?”
Slow down.
Seek God.
We need Him.
We need His voice.
We need His clarity.
We need His truth.
We need His purpose.
We need Him.
We want quick solutions, but God’s timing is different.
So, what does the watchtower here teach us?
That to wait for God’s revelation, we have to trust His appointed time, not ours.
Now remember this one thing—this is especially so relevant.
When God’s ways seem delayed and how He responds doesn’t seem to be what I expect.
Now, I took the wrong version—I would have appreciated the NASB or NKJV.
It says:
But those who hope—the word “hope” is “wait”—they that wait upon the Lord…
They that hope.
You reach out in your heart.
They that hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
Sometimes emotionally, we are so tired.
Mentally, we are stretched.
Physically, we can rest, but then emotionally, sometimes there’s such an upheaval.
And we make irrational decisions.
So, in the midst of all the noise, it’s to be quiet in the head and the heart and cut through all the noise and say, “God, direct me.”
Sometimes, there are so many things, whether it’s the office, different things, or, you know, work.
Sometimes I’ll just say, “I just want to go and be quiet for a few minutes.”
Too much noise.
I want to hear one voice.
They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.
He’s not talking about being an Olympic runner.
It’s engaging the race of life.
So, waiting in expectation for God’s strength and direction.
God, have mercy.
Okay, can we do 10–15 minutes more also?
I want to finish my notes.
For the last three weeks, I’ve not been able to finish it.
A position of spiritual perspective.
What is it?
Being on the watchtower gives us one vantage point.
What is it?
A higher perspective.
A higher perspective.
So, spiritually, what does it mean?
I see life’s events through God’s eyes rather than being consumed by the immediate that is around me and what is visible.
So, when we take this position of a watchtower attitude—prayer attitude, waiting on God attitude—we allow God to lift us up in a perspective that is above the chaos, above the confusion of the present, giving us what?
A glimpse of a higher purpose.
Now, this does not mean that we will always understand the “why,” but it allows us to see the world in faith.
Two scriptures:
Colossians 3:2 says, Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
Isaiah 55:8–11:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
It’s not the purpose I make it to be.
It’s the purpose that God sent it out to be.
We need to deal with false spirituality and discouragement.
When we build a habit or an attitude for standing at the spiritual watchtower, it will address two common purposes, and this happens in our lives.
Number one is false spirituality.
Number two is discouragement.
I’ll leave these for you to reflect on as you stand on your watchtower and wait for God’s voice.
Amen.