09/19/2023 – What or Who is Approaching Your Life?
2 Samuel 18: 24 While David was sitting between the inner and outer gates, the watchman went up to the roof of the gateway by the wall. As he looked out, he saw a man running alone. 25 The watchman called out to the king and reported it. The king said, “If he is alone, he must have good news.” And the runner came closer and closer. 26 Then the watchman saw another runner, and he called down to the gatekeeper, “Look, another man running alone!” The king said, “He must be bringing good news, too.” 27 The watchman said, “It seems to me that the first one runs like Ahimaaz son of Zadok.” “He’s a good man,” the king said. “He comes with good news.”
No one could approach king David’s house without been seen. David assigned watchmen whose responsibility was to keep looking at the horizon so they could sound the alarm when anyone was approaching. Our responsibility entails first looking beyond our immediate situation- keeping our sights in the future. We cannot simply react to things after they happen. We need to prevent harm. We must constantly ask ourselves: if I do this…say this…allow this thought, this person access to my life, what will be the consequences? How must we prepare for what I see approaching? How must we respond? We need to be able to spot temptation a mile away! And act before it does! We should be able to sniff out a lie! To spot false doctrine!
David’s men were good watchmen. They were not only able to spot someone approaching from a long distance…they could also identify the person by the way it approached. Imagine how many soldiers were in David’s command…but they could identify each of them from a long distance.
There are many details God has not revealed to us about the future. But that does not mean we are clueless about tomorrow. God may not have revealed everything, but He has revealed much about tomorrow. We know more about the future than anyone. We know we will be saved! We know God will provide! We know we will be blessed! We know we will triumph! We know He will return!
Good watchmen know everyone in the house. One of our most basic assignments is to get to know one another. The words love and know are used interchangeably in the Bible. Church is not a place for individualism and isolation. We need to find out who our sister is…how can I pray for her? We are responsible to identify goodness by their fruits- not to condemn, but to help…to pray.