April 28

The Watchmen

            The word of the Lord came to me:  O Mortal, speak to your people and say to them, If I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take one of their number as their sentinel; and if the sentinel sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people;  then if any who hear the sound of the trumpet do not take warning, and the sword comes and takes them away, their blood shall be upon their own heads. They heard the sound of the trumpet and did not take warning; their blood shall be upon themselves. But if they had taken warning, they would have saved their lives.  But if the sentinel sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any of them, they are taken away in their iniquity, but their blood I will require at the sentinel’s hand. So you, mortal, I have made a sentinel for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.

Ezekiel 33:1-7

            One of the strongest words in scripture comes from this passage in Ezekiel.  God has appointed men and women to watch and discern, to speak truth and warning to the world.  These sentinels or watchmen or lookouts are to keep an eye out, to look for God’s judgement and warn the people of the need to repent.  If they speak their message and ignored, the fault lies upon the people.  If they do not speak their message and judgement comes, the fault lies upon the watchman.  That is a heavy responsibility.

            There are two questions that immediately spring up for me:

• ·         Who are the watchmen of today?
• ·         What is our role?

The watchmen of today:  Who would that be?  How would we even know?  Are they our pastors?  Prayer Warriors?  Our Elders?  I have friends who receive daily prophetic words from big prayer ministries and share them on social media.  Most of what I read from them sounds like Christian versions of fortune cookies.  There are thousands and thousands of voices and opinions out there yelling what they see or hear or think.  We have access to strong voices on any political view or reading of scripture or conspiracy theory that we want to hold.  No matter how traditional or how crazy an opinion we have, we can find someone who is championing it online with sources and supporting materials.  How do we discover who the watchmen are and who is just loudly yelling what we want to hear?

            I don’t actually have a great answer.  This is one of the hazards of the modern world that we live in.  I will say that there have been a few times, a very precious few times, where I have listened to a speaker or read a particular book that resonated with me and shook me to my core.  Does the word agree with Scripture and glorify Jesus?  Is it affirmed by other believers and does it connect with the Holy Spirit of God living inside of us?  I think if a watchman were speaking a word from God, Deep would call to Deep and the word would catch a hold of my heart and mind and take root.  One of the best and strongest voices around the value of the IDD community and God’s role through them is Henri Nouwen.  He was shaping my life before I even had an autistic son and his words now ring more true than ever.

Our Role:  A few of us may be called to be watchmen for the Church and speak prophetically to the world around us.  All of us are definitely called to be watchmen for our children.  That is part of being a parent.  We watch for dangers.  We give words of warning.  We give words of exhortation and encouragement.  Especially for those of us who have children who have a hard time conceptualizing the consequences of their actions, we clearly lay out what will happen if they continue upon their current course of action.

            But it is not enough to just identify the dangers and speak them out loud; we need to be able to communicate them to our kids.  Just saying, “Don’t touch the stove,” will not keep our kids from burning themselves.  Sometimes we have to write it out.  Sometimes we have to put on a social story with puppets and figurines.  Sometimes we have to create the scene in Lego or watch a fire safety video.  Sometimes we have to forgo the luxury of having a fire to protect the kids.  We see the dangers.  We see the consequences.  Their mind is often somewhere else or they are confused on how this applies to them.  We are their watchmen and until we are sure that they understand the danger and the consequences of their choices, the responsibility is ours.

             

A moment to reflect:

How do you communicate consequences to your child?