The Night Shift

I’ve been working my way through Tim Keller’s The Songs of Jesus this year. I found his comments on Psalm 134, the last of the Songs of Ascent, striking.

Psalm 134 is short:

Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD,
who stand by night in the house of the LORD!
Lift up your hands to the holy place
and bless the LORD!
May the LORD bless you from Zion,
he who made heaven and earth!

The psalmist encourages the night staff of the temple: perhaps those who serve after the final worship service of the evening and throughout the night. They would have kept the lampstand lit, burned sacrifices, and guarded the gates. They were on duty day and night (1 Chronicles 9:33).

Keller comments:

Perhaps those who worked the “night shift” got little public attention or acknowledgment. Yet by being able to pray and praise him in his presence, they had “the one thing needful” (Luke 10:42, King James Version). Though they were laboring in relative obscurity, God blessed them, as he does all who are faithful to their calling.

I’m so grateful for this word.

For those of us who are serving in relative obscurity — that’s most of us — Psalm 134 is an encouragement. Keep blessing the LORD. Keep lifting your hands. “May the LORD bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth!”