Function as a Watchman

UV 1287/10,000 Function as a Watchman
And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.
Ezekiel 22 v 30
The Lord is always searching for interceders for people. Like Isaiah said, we need to offer ourselves and say, “Lord, here I am.” He wants us to be a hedge of prayer and protection for our nations and our people. He desires that we be watchmen for the souls of people, that we should stand in the gap between their deeds and God’s holiness and judgement. A watchman should be vigilant and observing all that is happening. He should take it to the Master’s notice. Similarly, our role as watchmen is to gather by observation all the relevant information about the world we live in, the cities or areas we live in and take the burden of our souls to the Lord.

Jesus admonished his sleeping disciples in the garden of Gethsemane to “ watch and pray.” When we stay up and pray while the whole world is sleeping, we are standing in the gap for the world. The Lord listens to our hearts concerns. Scripture says that “anyone who breaks a hedge will be bitten by a serpent.” It implies that anyone who tries to harm faithful, prayerful and watchful people will fall into the very pit or trap they were digging for them. The stone that they were rolling onto us will roll back on them. Believers form a hedge around their nations. We are accountable to God for the lives and souls of people who are placed in our area of influence or control. A spiritual watchman is not only alert at all times, he is sensitive and responsive. Whatever action lies with him, he needs to do. Like Nehemiah cried and repented for the follies of Israel, a watchman needs to repent for the sins of his people and his own. Nehemiah had a sense of “sempathy” or spiritual empathy- feeling the pain of God and God’s people as if it were His own. It led him to take many practical steps to re-build the walls of Jerusalem. For a watchman, the boundaries of the place he watches are very important. His eyes are on the spiritual walls or boundaries that separate the righteous from the unrighteous. A watchman of a farm needs to be wary of predators, of serpents, of birds of prey, of foxes that slip in through any gap in the fencing. He needs to be proactive and take pragmatic action to thwart the designs and activities of any of these. Similarly, God’s watchmen need to identify the enemy and his agents and take steps to neutralize their aggressive or inimical actions. All a watchman’s senses are fully put to use. He uses his natural gifts and resources and gathers all possible intelligence to discharge his responsibilities. The watchman needs to make sacrifices of his own comfort and needs. Similarly, we need to make sacrifices of our own comfort and need. A watchman stays humble and does not have any airs of his own importance. Similarly, we need to stay humble like a servant and know we are just doing our God-given and enabled duties. A watchman is involved and committed to his task or mission of guarding the people. Jesus sweated drops of blood as He stood in the gap before God the Father just before His crucifiction.
God is looking for a Moses to lead His people but everywhere He finds people who are contented to live life as if it is a bed of roses. Moses stood in the gap between the misdeeds of Israel and Jehovah. A leader’s role is to stand in the gap, to take the things or issues of man to God and take the thoughts and teachings of God to men. We know that we are never good enough or wise enough or brave enough to fill the gap between God and man, between what is needed and what is available. But we also are assured that the Lord can fill the gap or help us overcome the shortcomings. Our role as faithful and spiritual watchmen is to invite the Lord to intervene and fill the gap. Every watchman in turn needs to daily examine his or her own faith-fencing and check if all the links in the fence are tightly fitted without any gaps for any subtle fox of temptation or inducement to enter. When faithful people pray with a sense of burden over any issue a hedge is formed. The word ‘hedge ‘ is used to indicate that faithful, prayerful people who are fully aware of the threats of the powers of darkness are a natural supernatural force of protection. The hedge needs to be trimmed. Hence, even the watchmen need to be pruned through the Lord’s correction. The hedge is not static but it grows stronger and bigger over time. Similarly, we need to mature and grow in the Lord over time. We need divine anointing to function as a watchman for God as He alone can appoint us and give us the unction in our function.

Prateep V Philip