Who Is Your Watchman?

12/04/2005

“When I bring an army against a country, the people of that land choose a watchman. When the watchman sees the enemy coming, he blows the alarm to warn the people. Then if those who hear the alarm refuse to take action—well, it is their own fault if they die. They heard the warning but wouldn’t listen, so the responsibility is theirs. If they had listened to the warning, they could have saved their lives.”
(Ezekiel 33 1-5 NLT)

I believe we all need a Watchman! Not only to hold us accountable in life each day, but also to warn us that the “enemy is coming,” or in some cases, that the enemy is even there--an enemy that’s out on the prowl. But would we even listen? Would we heed the warnings? Would we hear the alarm? Hopefully, especially if the warning comes from someone God has put in our lives for that purpose, and we have grown to trust their judgment on things.

“This is the way; turn around and walk here.” (Isaiah 30:21 NLT) We need someone to help us recognize the “enemy,” and point us in the right direction—one that leads us safely away! That’s huge! For all of us! How many of us are headed in the wrong direction, ready to fall into a dark pit of destruction because of some decision we are making that is unwise, sinful, full of wrong temptations and harmful to both body and soul? Our Watchman can watch out for us and warn us. Sometimes, we just can’t do it on our own. Sometimes, we’re just not “good enough at it!” We need a friend who is there, ready to catch us when we are about to fall.

God doesn’t want us harmed if someone comes along and knocks us off balance or sends us in a direction at a speed that is beyond what we can manage on our own. God wants us to live, so He places people in just the right place to catch us or to warn us of impending danger! Many times though, we just don’t want to be saved. We want to do what we want to do, to have things our way, but this is not Burger King…we are serving the King of Heaven and Earth. We can argue and stomp our feet and tell Him how unjust it is, but in the end, we must trust that He has our best interest at heart. Many times it seems we will be unhappy if we don’t get things our way, but what we will find is that when we get things God’s way, we will be more fully satisfied than we could ever be had we left it to our own devices.

Put all your rebellion behind you, and get for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O people of Israel? I don’t want you to die, says the Sovereign Lord. Turn back and live! (Ezekiel 18:30b-32 NLT)

God is not against us; He is totally for us! As hard as that is to see sometimes, it is the truth. God can meet our desires in ways we cannot imagine. We must seek Him and trust Him because life is tough--but along the journey, God has put great people in our lives to help see us through each step of the way. They are our Watchmen, sent to warn us of the enemy’s approach by sounding an alarm in our lives when danger is in our path. And then, we need to LISTEN to that warning, or be willing to be held accountable for what we will do next…will it be God-honoring, or will it not?