A Watchman

Bible:

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, speak to your people and say to them, If I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and make him their watchman, and if he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people, then if anyone who hears the sound of the trumpet does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But if he had taken warning, he would have saved his life. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any one of them, that person is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.

“So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. Ezekiel 33:1-9 ESV

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. . . . So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” Acts 4:13, 18-20 ESV

Reflection:

When people serve in the United States armed forces, one thing they often have to do is sentry duty. Most branches of service have a list of rules for sentries that have to be memorized and followed. The first rule is that sentries must take charge of their post and of all the government property in their view. They must not let anyone pass their post if that person is not on the access list. Sometimes in basic training, training instructors will try to trick the sentry into letting them pass, and if the sentry falls for the trick he or she will be in big trouble! Another rule is that a sentry must not quit the post until the next sentry comes to take over for him or her. Something else that sentries must do is give the alarm in case of a fire or some kind of disorder. Sentries must follow these rules very carefully, because keeping watch is a very important job in the armed forces.

Long ago walled cities and sometimes army camps had watchmen, and these watchmen were like sentries. If they saw danger approaching they would blow a trumpet to warn the people. God told Ezekiel that he had made the prophet a watchman, and Ezekiel’s job was a very serious one. The Lord said that if Ezekiel failed to warn people that their sin was going to bring God’s judgment on them, the prophet would be responsible for the punishment that fell on wicked people. But if Ezekiel warned the people to turn away from their sins, and they didn’t listen to him, God’s judgment would be their own fault. Ezekiel had a very grim, but very important job. Speaking words of judgment would make people angry with him, but no matter what they said or did, Ezekiel needed to stay faithful to his job.

We all have a job as God’s watchmen, but we have both bad and good news to tell others. The bad news is that the Lord punishes people for their sins, and that because of our sins we are all separated from God. But we have good news to tell also. We can tell people that God loves them and wants them to be his people forever. He sent Jesus to take on the judgment for our sins, and Jesus paid for all the sins of the world at the cross. Everyone who believes in Jesus has forgiveness from God every day, and instead of judgment, we are God’s children and will live with him forever in his heavenly kingdom.

Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for people who warn us about our sins and tell us the good news about Jesus. Please help us to share this news with others. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Source:

http://www.military.com/join-armed-forces/discovering-how-sentries-act.html

Ignoring the Warnings

Bible:

Thus says the Lord:
“Stand by the roads, and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
I set watchmen over you, saying,
‘Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet!’
But they said, ‘We will not pay attention.’
Therefore hear, O nations,
and know, O congregation, what will happen to them.
Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people,
the fruit of their devices,
because they have not paid attention to my words;
and as for my law, they have rejected it. Jeremiah 6:16-19 ESV

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said,

“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” Hebrews 3:12-15 ESV

Reflection:

Have you ever seen a warning label? Warning labels are all around, on many things around the house that we buy, and also in places where people work or go to school. Here are some warning labels you might see: “Danger: High Voltage,” “Heavy Object. Lift with Care,” “Caution: Hot Surface. Do Not Touch,” “Danger: Never Reach into Moving Machinery,” “May Cause Drowsiness. Use Care When Operating Car,” “Harmful if Swallowed,” “Warning: Moving Gate Can Cause Injury or Death.” What kinds of warning labels have you seen? Ignoring a warning label is foolish, and it can also be dangerous.

The prophet Jeremiah spoke a message from God to the people who were ignoring God’s warnings. He sent prophets to the people to tell them to walk in the right paths, which means to follow God’s ways, but they wouldn’t listen. They continued to do things their own way and to ignore the way the Lord wanted them to go. Jeremiah also used the picture of watchmen to describe the prophets. Watchmen stood at the top of city walls and watched for danger, and if there was danger the watchman would blow the trumpet to warn the people. But God’s prophets warned the people again and again of the danger they were in, and they wouldn’t listen. Because God’s people had ignored all of God’s warnings and turned away from his law, he was going to bring disaster on them.

God warns us today through his word, the Bible. His word shows us our sin and the ways that we’ve turned against him. The Lord wants us to turn away from our sins so that we don’t suffer his punishment. But no matter how hard we try, we can’t completely get rid of the sin in our lives. That’s why God sent Jesus to be our Savior. Jesus obeyed God’s holy law perfectly, and he died on the cross to take away our sins. We can always go to the Lord for forgiveness and help because of Jesus, and we can be sure that he will always forgive our sins. He sends us his Holy Spirit to help us trust in him and obey him.

Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Jesus, our Savior, and for forgiving our sins. Please help us to trust you and follow your ways. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Music for Praise

Bible:

Praise the Lord!
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens!
Praise him for his mighty deeds;
praise him according to his excellent greatness!

Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
Praise him with sounding cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord! Psalm 150 ESV

Great and amazing are your deeds,
O Lord God the Almighty!
Just and true are your ways,
O King of the nations!
Who will not fear, O Lord,
and glorify your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come
and worship you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed. Revelation 15:3b-4 ESV

Reflection:

What kinds of instruments did people play in Bible times? This psalm mentions a number of them. It mentions trumpets, and there were two kinds of trumpets. One was made out of a ram’s horn, and it was used to call people to worship or soldiers to battle. There was also a trumpet made of brass or silver, and this was also used for worship and in battle. The lute usually had about five strings that were strummed, and it was small enough to carry. A harp was bigger and had 10 or 12 strings, and was shaped like a jar or bottle. A tambourine was actually more like a hand drum, and clay figures often show women playing a tambourine. Clay figures also show people playing pipes, which were double-piped flutes with holes to cover to make different notes. Cymbals were made out of copper or bronze, and gave a very loud, ringing sound.

Psalm 150 calls on people to use all kinds of instruments to praise God. Music is a wonderful gift of God for us, and we can use music to worship and praise God. What kinds of instruments do we use today? We use organs and pianos and guitars and drums and flutes and many, many others. God is honored when we give him our best music and use our voices to tell about how great and wonderful he is. God’s angels praise God in the highest heavens, God’s people Israel praised him in his sanctuary, we praise him in our churches, and we can also sing and make music and praise God anywhere.

The most important part about praising God is to know why we praise him. The Bible says we should praise God for his mighty and amazing deeds. God gives us everything we are and have, and even more, when we turned away from him in sin he sent Jesus to die on the cross for us. Jesus rose again from the dead and defeated sin and death and all the forces of evil, and this is the most mighty and amazing deed of all. Jesus died for us and for all people everywhere, and people from all nations come to God through Jesus to thank and praise him for everything he has done. Everything that has breath has reason to praise the Lord now and forever.

Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, we praise you for how wonderful you are and for everything you’ve done for us, and especially for Jesus, our Savior. In His Name, Amen.

Source:

The Lutheran Study Bible St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2009, p. 993.

Getting Close to God

Bible:

Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was. Exodus 20:18-21 ESV

The Lord reigns; let the peoples tremble!
He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
The Lord is great in Zion;
he is exalted over all the peoples.
Let them praise your great and awesome name!
Holy is he!
The King in his might loves justice.
You have established equity;
you have executed justice
and righteousness in Jacob.
Exalt the Lord our God;
worship at his footstool!
Holy is he! Psalm 99:1-5 ESV

Reflection:

Many years ago, a pirate whose nickname was Blackbeard sailed the Caribbean and the Atlantic coast of North America. He would attack ships and steal their valuable cargo, and sailors were terribly afraid of him. If they saw his ship they would often surrender to him. The pirate knew how to make people afraid. He flew a flag from his ship that showed a heart dripping blood, or a skeleton with an hourglass and a scythe as a picture of death. Blackbeard would even set slow-burning coils in his hair and beard to make it look as if he were on fire.

This is the way God’s people Israel felt when they heard God talking to them from his holy mountain. They heard his awesome voice with thunder and the trumpet, and saw lightening and smoke, and they were scared. They could see the power and holiness of God, and they knew that if they got too close, they would die. They were afraid of God, and didn’t ever want to get that close again. They would rather have Moses tell them what God wanted to say than hear from God himself.

God isn’t a cruel pirate like Blackbeard, but it’s right for us to fear God, because he is holy and we are not. We are sinful. We have broken his holy laws, and we deserve punishment. On our own we can never safely come close to God, but God wants to be close to us. He spoke to his people Israel through Moses, but he came to us himself in Jesus. It’s only through Jesus that we can be close to God. Jesus became a human being who shared our weakness and died on the cross to pay for our sins. Because of Jesus, we don’t have to be afraid of God. We can come to him, worship him, and tell him our needs. We know that he always hears us through Jesus.

Prayer:

Dear Jesus, thank you for coming to us and bringing us back to God. Amen.

Source:

https://www.nps.gov/people/blackbeard.htm