The Burden of the Watchman

UV 561/10,000 The Burden of the Watchman Isaiah 21 v 12 The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will enquire, enquire ye: return, come The Lord is appointing different watchmen in different nations who will watch from His tower for the changes in times and to interpret the changes to His people. Jesus told His disciples in the garden of Gethsemane, “ Watch and pray.” As His disciples,we are to be watchful or observant of all that happens in the nation. As spiritual people, we should not make the mistake of burying our head in the sand like an ostrich so that we do not perceive what happens in the world. All the information and knowledge we can gain from all our sources in the places we are living and working will be grist to our mill- in the sense, they will give us our focal points for prayer. Newspaper headlines will become our prayer points. We are to watch from the top of the tower implying that we have to tune our hearing, our vision and our thoughts all the time to listening to the Lord. We are called to be Samuels to the nation- meaning that we hear God and are heard of God as we carry the burden of the nation to the Lord. A watchman’s job is to be alert, to be always ready to face a threat, to sound an alarm. It is our job to protect the sheep in the fold from false doctrines and cultic teachings, from man-made rules and religion. It is our responsibility to take in prayer the things that we observe in the world and the church to the Lord and to take the things the Lord speaks to us back to the world and to the church. We need to be patient and wait on the Lord in times of night or adversity. We need to be sensitive to the move of the Holy Spirit to be able to interpret the times and the pointers to events in the calendar of God. There are many things that we see and notice but do not speak about. But, these will become strategic action points. We need to enquire actively of the Lord when the morning will come or that which we hope for, the second coming of the Lord, the resolution of our difficulties. We need to enquire of the Lord when the night will come- times of adversity or spiritual famine when people will cease to be faithful to God or to each other. Knowing the times will help us make wise, timely and correct decisions and use appropriate methods better suited for either the morning or the night. It will lend a sense of urgency to our vision and its fulfillment for we will know the appointed hour. Then, we can urge those who have back-slidden in their faith to return to the Lord and persuade those who are sick, helpless,weary and hopeless to come to Him for solace, healing, help and leading. A watchman is called to be faithful in little things. Then, he will be given greater and greater responsibility. A watchman does not own the house. He realizes that the house belongs to the Lord. A watchman is also courageous, patient, diligent and eager to see the break of dawn. Prateep V Philip