Watchmen
For thus the Lord said to me: "Go, set a watchman; let him announce what he sees.
Isaiah 21:6 (ESV)
Isaiah 21:6 (ESV)
A watchman watches. There were several times when God addressed a watchman and commanded them to be vigilant.
A watchman sets themselves up to watch and to proclaim what they see. When there is no danger, they remain silent. When they see danger, they proclaim danger.
This proclamation can be heeded or discarded, but it must be made. The watchman must be faithful to his/her task.
While I was in a major retail store, a screeching alarm began to sound. I started to ready myself for evacuation, but I observed that all of the store employees were going about their work as if nothing was happening. Therefore, I ignored the alarm, finished my shopping, and began the checkout process. During that process, I asked the clerk why nobody responded to the alarm, and was told that it was meaningless because it happened all the time.
Watchmen need to carefully proclaim the truth in a time and place where it can and should be heeded. False alarms always diminish real alarms.
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