In Thee, O LORD, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion. Psalm 71:1 KJV.

“Stay here and watch with Me.” Matthew 26:38.

The LORD gives His people strength. The LORD blesses them with peace. Psalm 29:11.

And continuing our 351 Old Testament prophecies, promises of God, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, we come to number 134: The Man of God’s right hand. Psalm 80:17: Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand, upon the son of man whom You made strong for Yourself. And, Mark 14:61-62: But He kept silent and did not answer. Again the high priest was questioning Him, and saying to Him, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” And Jesus said, “I am; and you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”

I loved these excerpts today in My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers about watching with Jesus: “”Watch with Me.” Jesus was saying, in effect, “Watch with no private point of view at all, but watch solely and entirely with Me.” In the early stages of our Christian life, we do not watch with Jesus, we watch for Him. We do not watch with Him through the revealed truth of the Bible even in the circumstances of our own lives. And how can we possibly watch with Someone who is so incomprehensible? How are we going to understand Jesus sufficiently to watch with Him in His Gethsemane, when we don’t even know why He is suffering? We don’t know how to watch with Him – we are only used to the idea of Jesus watching with us. The disciples loved Jesus Christ to the limit of their natural capacity, but they did not fully understand His purpose. In the Garden of Gethsemane they slept as a result of their own sorrow, and at the end of three years of the closest and most intimate relationship of their lives they “all…forsook Him and fled” (Matthew 26:56). “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:4). “They” refers to the same people, but something wonderful has happened between these two events – our LORD’S death, resurrection, and ascension – and the disciples have now been invaded and filled “with the Holy Spirit.” Our LORD had said, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:8). This meant that they learned to watch with Him the rest of their lives.”

I’m finding that to be so important for me today, to watch with Jesus, trusting Him for everything. This our world today has changed so much since I was a child. There was quiet then. I could as a child be in the beauty of nature quietly absorbing the beauty before me and in that quiet time appreciate what God had created. There was no rushing. Do we even realize how much noise and rushing saturates us today? Constant words pouring forth and now artificial words as well generated from a machine generated from words inputted into it. I can no longer understand the things that are happening in our world at record speed; the rapid pace of change that is disrupting lives and gaining speed and momentum. In Thee, O LORD, do I put my trust – let me never be put to confusion. The only way I can escape the confusion is to be with Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit. We have between the covers of one book the truth of Creator God for us. And it can be so confusing today because it is speaking of times so distant from us culturally, economically, socially. But the truth remains. The disciples wanted to know when He would restore the kingdom to Israel. How could they not want to know that, that was their whole world then. He said to them, “It is not for you to know the times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” Acts 1:7-8. They did their part and we have His witness of the truth today. And the times and epochs will continue until Jesus returns. Where He is is the Kingdom of God. It isn’t just Israel that needs restoration. We all do – every nation and all of creation. And it begins for us with God’s words bringing truth and hope. There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light. There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’” For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. John 1:6-18. Can we watch with Jesus trusting Him?

***BREATHE ON ME, BREATH OF GOD – Breathe on me, breath of God; fill me with life anew that I may love what Thou dost love and do what Thou wouldst do. Breathe on me, breath of God, until my heart is pure, until with Thee I will one will: to do and to endure. Breathe on me, breath of God till I am wholly Thine – till all this earthly part of me glows with Thy fire divine. Breathe on me, breath of God, so shall I never die but live with Thee the perfect life of Thine eternity. Edwin Hatch, “Breathe on Me, Breath of God,” 1878.***