Do you ever keep vigil? My dad did. Mom could go to sleep while her four boys were coming home or en route to our destination. Our job was to arrive safely. But dad stayed awake watching and waiting to be sure we were safe. I never understood this, until I had children of my own traveling late at night. My kids said to me what I said to dad, “Go to bed. We will be fine.” But I waited for word.
When the Israelites left Egypt, God kept vigil. For 430 years he had cared for his people in Egypt. Now he was watching to be sure they made it home safely. It would take forty years with several laps in the wilderness. But God watched and waited.
To celebrate Passover, God suggested that the Israelites also keep vigil. On that terrible night, many of the Egyptians lost their firstborn sons. But God passed over the Israelites’ houses and spared their firstborn. The blood of the lamb on their doors was the sign they were to be spared.
As a young pastor I went and stayed in the Intensive Care waiting room of Hillcrest Hospital praying 19 year old James would survive his spinal meningitis. With Jimmy, Betsy and Johnny, I wept when James died. We keep vigil with each other in unthinkable pain sometimes.
Somehow, I find it comforting to think of God watching over his people, to this day. And I remember when the time came to save the world, God’s only begotten Son was not spared. He was the lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world to take away the sins of the world. God keeps vigil waiting for the world to turn to his Son. We should keep vigil too as we remember his love today.
