That I may Know HIM - A Devotional

Day 35: THE ONUS OF THE WATCHMAN

 In the light of this Monday daybreak, I appreciate, further, the essence of that word, in spite of my cautioning head.  In retrospect, I do now apprehend the meaning of the lessening clouds.  That was the news from the Spirit before the news from the radio.   What volume of prayers must have gone up between January 12 and 14, especially through the call by the Abuja office of the Christian Association of Nigeria for an hour of prayers from midnight on the 12th, in view of the Islamic threats that night!  It is encouraging to see how quickly God would answer the prayers of His people.  Pastor Emma from Port Harcourt had sent a gleeful mail to say,

 One may misconstrue the Church as docile. I am shocked at the level of prayer mobilisation going on all over the country. This material is timely and agrees with what the Lord will have the Church know and do. I am glad they are already at it.  

 All the way from a Baptist church in the United States of America, a white brother, Dennis, wrote to say, “Brother, much of what you say is unfamiliar ground to me, but the call for prayer is clear.”  It is the beauty of the universal Family, where one member stands by the other member in spite of colour, creed or clime. Brother David in Nigeria says,

 God bless you Sir. You have made my day. This is a wakeup call to me and all believers. I promise you, we shall not disappoint the LORD. The battle is the LORD's; the victory is ours.

 In the midst of the turmoil, another minister and prophetic intercessor, Apostle O-, had wondered why the Church had been so blind and passive until now.  I told him it was not the fault of the whole Church but that of its watchmen, who would be but a handful unknown.  In no place does God put everybody on the watchtower.  That little place has no space for the multitude.  Usually, there is just one watchman over a whole city of probably millions of people.  While everyone else enjoys their legitimate sleep, the duty is that of the singular watchman to keep awake, see clearly, then alert the rest of the millions to what his two eyes had seen while their multi-million eyes were under the spell of sleep or other civil necessities (Isaiah 21:6).  Only after the watchman has woken them does the action of the multitude become imperative.

 Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me (Ezekiel 3:17).

You probably are asking yourself like I did after reading that passage: “One watchman, over the whole nation of Israel?” 

 Often, the watchman who sees does not have the resources and capabilities of those he alerts to respond to what he sees.  It is the mystery of the Body, where one member cannot claim to be so powerful as not to need the other. It is the mystery of  the mighty who sometimes get naturally fatigued from obligatory work and doze off, needing to be woken by lesser men; and it takes not so such mighty energy to “wake up the mighty men” (Joel 3:9).  Who knows what could have happened to the whole team had the faithless and fearful but wakeful disciples not woken the Almighty Jesus Who had been overtaken by weariness of the flesh and had fallen asleep in the boat? (Mark 4:38). Everybody has a place in the Kingdom.

 Sometimes, however, someone cries “wolf” when he has seen nothing, or seen a mist that he has sincerely mistaken for a wolf.  You might still remember something of the disciples one stormy night as Jesus walked on the sea towards them.  They thought they saw a ghost, and so announced, sincerely mistaken, with visions distorted by fear, by darkness, and by the storm (Matthew 14:26).  How do we tell when one has mistaken a mist for a wolf?  Simple.  It is not possible for everybody to wake up yet nobody is able to see what the watchman takes such great pains to point at.  If nobody else but only the watchman sees,  if  “two or three witnesses” be so hard to find, it could be wondered if everyone else is still asleep, including other watchmen (Amos 3:7; Matthew 18:16; 1 Corinthians 14:27,29).  Otherwise, it might point to a visionary defect, if not something more intentionally devious.