“He went out to the field one evening to meditate, and as he looked up, and there, the camels were coming.” Genesis 24:63
 
Our watch focus this week takes inspiration from the meeting between Isaac and his bride at the well called Beer Lai Roi. So named by Hagar who encountered the Angel of the Lord’s Presence as she fled misuse by Sarah, literally “the well of him that lives and sees me.” Like the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, the Living God saw Hagar’s situation and intervened to give her hope and direction for her future life. Our Bridegroom waits to meet His prospective bride at the well of corporate prayer this week. We dismount from the personal and national crisis driving us to Him in order to see Him as He is and gain our center of gravity to go forward with clarity, courage, hope, and victory.

Enthroned in Worship

The Lamb slain before the foundation of the world was prophesied through David in Psalm 22 saying, “You are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame” (Psalm 22:3-5). The psalmist further says, “The Lord sat enthroned at the Flood, and the Lord sits as King forever. The Lord will give strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace” (Psalm 29:10-11) referencing the Exodus from Egypt and encounter at Sinai considered the event of God taking Israel as His wife-to-be. We gather at His throne and wait on Him as our King while we lift our hearts and voices as incense ascending in worship.

Be magnified, O Lord, You are highly exalted, and there is nothing You can't do. O Lord, my eyes are on You. Be magnified, O Lord, be magnified!
I have made You too small in my eyes, O Lord, forgive me. I have believed in a lie that You were unable to help me, but now, O Lord, I see my wrong, heal my heart and show Yourself strong. And in my eyes and with my song, O Lord, be magnified! O Lord, be magnified!
I have leaned on the wisdom of men, O Lord, forgive me. And I have responded to them instead of Your light and Your mercy. But now, O Lord, I see my wrong, heal my heart and show Yourself strong! And in my eyes and with my song, O Lord, be magnified! O Lord, be magnified!
Be magnified, O Lord! You are highly exalted! And there is nothing You can't do. O Lord, my eyes are on You. Be magnified, O Lord, be magnified! (words by Don Moen)
 
 
Lawfare

Lawfare is a term being wielded by American politicians and media pundits in reference to issues surrounding the supposed presidential candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump. The term originated in reference to military deployment in kinetic conflicts on the battlefield. It was forced into use when malevolent actors in ground wars, not having similar moral values as their stronger opponents, embedded themselves in civilian populations in order to create mass humanitarian causalities, cause public outcry, and thereby gain victory that malevolent actors could not obtain by use of legal military means. Early modern examples come from the U.S. war on terror in the Middle East. In 2008, Israel began intensive use of video surveillance of its operations against Hamas in Gaza coupled with strict legal advisors in operational planning and training for these very reasons. Interestingly, we are in a literal repeat of history today that has broadened to include the International Court of Justice at the Hague and has spilled into Western streets aroused in public outcry against Israel in unison with public demonstrations in the East calling for Israel’s complete annihilation. Domestically, the political implementation surrounds the perceived hypocrisy and abuse of the law by outspoken political enemies of the former President in 4 trials in 3 states and the Supreme Court that may have wide future implications on our basic conduct and freedoms as a civil society and in our constitution.

Is there any help?
 
We turn to the One who “sits enthroned above the Flood” and position ourselves in worship in order to see and hear above the literal fog of war, politically and socially at home, and in literal warfare abroad, in Ukraine, a war destroying a nation at our expense, and in Israel, with its future in mind while the whole world turns against it, remains intent on destroying its neighboring sworn enemy. So we pray:
 
Psalm 22
Be not far from Me,
For trouble is near;
For there is none to help.
12 Many bulls have surrounded Me;
Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me.

…dogs have surrounded Me;
The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.
O My Strength, hasten to help Me!
20 Deliver Me from the sword,
My precious life from the power of the dog.
 
21You have answered Me.
22I will declare Your name to My brethren;
In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.
23 You who fear the Lord, praise Him!
All you [h]descendants of Jacob, glorify Him,
And fear Him, all you offspring of Israel!
24 For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;
Nor has He hidden His face from Him;
But when He cried to Him, He heard.
25 My praise shall be of You in the great assembly;
I will pay My vows before those who fear Him.
26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
Those who seek Him will praise the Lord.
Let your heart live forever!
27 All the ends of the world
Shall remember and turn to the Lord,
And all the families of the [i]nations
Shall worship before [j]You.
28 For the kingdom is the Lord’s,
And He rules over the nations.
29 All the prosperous of the earth
Shall eat and worship;
All those who go down to [k]the dust
Shall bow before Him,
Even he who cannot keep himself alive.
30 A posterity shall serve Him.
It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation,
31 They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born,
That He has done this.
 
PSALM 29
Give unto the Lord, O you mighty ones,
Give unto the Lord glory and strength.
2 Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name;
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
The God of glory thunders;
The Lord is over many waters.
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful;
The voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars,
Yes, the Lord splinters the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes them also skip like a calf,
Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox.
7 The voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire.
8 The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
The Lord shakes the Wilderness of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth,
And strips the forests bare;
And in His temple everyone says, “Glory!”
10 The Lord sat enthroned at the Flood,
And the Lord sits as King forever.
11 The Lord will give strength to His people;
The Lord will bless His people with peace.