Psalm 119:148

Today’s verse from Psalm 119 follows upon the theme of the preceding verse in that it deals with the time of the psalmist’s devotional life.  In the preceding verse he prevented the dawning of the morning.  In this verse his eyes prevent the night watches.

Psalms 119:148  Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word.

In the Biblical times, the night was divided up into watches as may be seen in the following passages:

Judges 7:19  So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands.

Matthew 14:25  And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.

Luke 12:38  And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.

Mark 13:35  Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning….

Whichever watch it might happen to have been, there were times when the psalmist was awake and meditating in God’s word before the watch occurred.  His Bible was not only his companion by day, but by night as well.  And meditating on God’s words, he learned God’s language so as to be better able to communicate with Him in prayer.

The psalmist was obviously experiencing wakefulness.  But this wakefulness was not the unintended wakefulness of insomnia that troubles many of us.  It was rather an intentional wakefulness.  He stated that he prevented the night watches that I might meditate in thy word.  He was so tuned into what the Scriptures teach that he would deprive himself of sleep to study them.  I can attest that there have been times when something in the Bible had such a hold on me that I arose in the night from my bed to look into it.

I quite like Matthew Henry’s comments on this and the previous verse:

“And this is our comfort, when we pray in the night, that we can never come unseasonably to the throne of grace; for we may have access to it at all hours.  Baal may be asleep, but Israel’s God never slumbers, nor are there any hours in which he may not be spoken with.”

As was the case with the foregoing verse, so this verse also reminds us of the practice of our blessed Lord during His time on this earth.

Luke 6:12  And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.

The Lord Jesus engaged in this nighttime vigil of prayer just before He chose His twelve apostles thereby laying the foundation of the New Testament church.

One characteristic of the wicked is that they devote the night hours to plotting mischief and evil.

Psalms 36:4  He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil.

Micah 2:1 Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand.

If they can prevent the night watches to devise evil to practice during the day, might we not prevent at least some night watches to meditate on the words of God so that we might practice them during the day?

How many of you prevent the night watches so you can finish an intriguing novel, or tune into a favourite late night television show, or surf the internet, or party with friends?  But here we find the psalmist keeping late hours for a far different purpose:  the purpose of meditating in God’s word.  And then he would engage in fervent prayer before the break of day. We would all be stronger Christians if we were like the psalmist in this regard. What a blessing it would be if the last thoughts of our day were left with God only then to find them with Him first thing in the morning!