Psalms 132:5

The more I meditate on the mind of the saints, the more I am reminded of something that is high and hard and beyond the powers of human nature. Call to mind what the same psalmist [David] has said: "If I shall go up into the bed wherein I lie; if I shall give sleep to my eyes, or slumber to my eyelids or rest to my temples; until I find out a place for the Lord, a tabernacle for the God of Jacob." Who would not be amazed at such a love of God, such dedication of soul, that a king and prophet should deny himself all sleep—the very essential of bodily vigor—until he should find a place to build a temple to the Lord? This fact should be a strong admonishment to us who long to be a dwelling place of the Lord and to be considered his tabernacle and temple forever. "You are," as Paul reminds us, "the temple of the living God." Let us, then, be moved by the example of the saints to love vigils to the utmost of our power. And let it not be said of us what is said in the psalm: "They have slept their sleep and … found nothing." Rather, let each of us be glad to say, "In the day of my trouble I have sought God and with my hands lifted up to him in the night and was not deceived." The reason is that "it is good to give praise to the Lord and to sing to your name, O most High; to show forth your mercy in the morning and your truth in the night." These and many other such thoughts the saints have left us in song and other writings, so that we who are their heirs may be moved by such examples to celebrate at night the vigils of our salvation.

What then doth he mean, "How he sware," etc.? Let us see what vow is this. We can offer God nothing more pleasing than to swear. Now to swear is to promise firmly. Consider this vow, that is, with what ardour he vowed what he vowed, with what love, with what longing; nevertheless, he prayeth the Lord to fulfil it in these words, "O Lord, remember David, and all his meekness." In this temper he vowed his vow, and there should be a house of God: "I will not come within the tabernacle of mine house, nor climb up into my bed" (ver. 3). "I will not suffer mine eyes to sleep, nor mine eyelids to slumber" (ver. 4). This seemeth not enough; he adds, "Neither the temples of my head to take any rest, until I find out a place for the Lord; an habitation for the God of Jacob" (ver. 5). Where did he seek a place for the Lord? If he was meek, he sought it in himself. For how is one a place for the Lord? Hear the Prophet: "Upon whom shall My Spirit rest? Even upon him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My words." Dost thou wish to be a place for the Lord? Be thou poor in spirit, and contrite, and trembling at the word of God, and thou wilt thyself be made what thou seekest. For if what thou seekest be not realized in thyself, what doth it profit thee in another. ...

Girded with such things to serve as invincible armor, let us take our stand against the evil one, being wakeful and well prepared, as though it was day. Let us pierce him with the mighty arrows of the Spirit's words and cut off all his hopes, joining David, the son of Jesse, in adjuring him by the covenant that does not fail: "Depart from us and go to your ill fate, you mad dog" that audaciously barks against its master, for we have sworn to the Lord and make our vow to the God of Jacob that we shall "not allow sleep to touch our eyes, or drowsiness our eyelids, until we have found a place for the Lord to rest in our souls, a tent for the God of Jacob" to dwell in our hearts. We will certainly not cease from vigil, prayer, toil and labor until the Lord is pleased at our soul and chooses it as a place in which to live, saying, "This is my resting place for eternal ages; here shall I reside, for I have desired it."