More Than Watchmen (Psalm 130)

I wrote this song a few weeks ago, also in response to one of my pastors' request for "hope songs" for us to sing in worship on Sunday mornings (He's doing a sermon series on hope). Most songs take at least a week or a few days of coming back to it a number of times for me to finish them, but this was one of the rare ones that came rather quickly, probably because the theme of hope resonates so strongly with me, and because Psalm 130 has been one of my favorite Psalms for years. I have been especially moved by its description of waiting on the Lord:

I wait for the Lord

More than watchmen wait for morning,

More than watchmen wait for morning.

I heard a story yesterday about a navy chaplain who was visiting soldiers who were standing guard through the night on the frontlines of a battlefield. He described the incredible tension, as a moving camel in the distance seemed so certainly to look like an enemy soldier, and a twinkle of light would set the whole camp on alarm. In the final hours of night, everyone was desperate to see the morning light, longing for the clarity of vision it would bring. These words from Psalm 130 became all the more real to the chaplain after this experience.

I have written below about how the Christian is always, in this life, waiting. For every answered prayer, there are many unanswered ones. And the ultimate fulfillment for what we can best desire will always remain unfulfilled until Christ returns. But we can still wait with confidence, believing that the morning will come and that the God who is in the business of making things new, will finally, one day, make all things new in Christ.

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Verse 1: Bm7 G D A

Out of the depths I call to You

Listen to my plea

Out of the depths I cry the name of Jesus

Battered by my circumstance

Broken at Your feet

But voice enough to sigh the name of Jesus

Pre-Chorus: Em7 D/F# G A

Where else would I go

You're my only hope

Chorus: Bm7 G D A

More than watchmen wait for morning

I will wait for You, my God

In Your promise I will glory

All my hope is in Your love

Verse 2:

If you kept a record of

All our sinful ways

Who, O Lord, could stand to face Your glory

But full of mercy, rich in love

You have come to save

So in my weary bones I whisper, "worthy"

Bridge: Bm7 A/C# G Bm7 A

My soul waits for the break of day

You will surely come as the rising sun

Bm7 A/C# G A

My soul longs for the coming dawn

You will surely come to us