“The
prophet, along with my God, is the watchman over Ephraim” (Hosea 9:8).
Being a watchman will involve speaking strong words of warning. It’s not
easy to speak God’s Word. It’s not easy to hear His Word. His Word
calls for change. It calls us to come out of our sin and into His
holiness. The watchman must speak of “days of punishment” and “days of
reckoning.” He must speak about “sins” and “hostility” (Hosea 9:7). Why
must he speak of such things? Before people can turn to the Lord, they
must be shown that they need the Lord. The watchman does not do this
work on His own. It is “the prophet, along with my God” who “is the
watchman.” We must never forget the Lord our God. Without Him, we can
never be real and true watchman. With Him by our side, we will listen to
what men will say, “The prophet is considered a fool, the inspired man a
maniac” (Hosea 9:7). We still say, “Being a fool for God is very
different from being a fool.” “The fool says in his heart, There is no
God” (Psalm 14:1). A fool for God is only a fool in the eyes of men.
He’s not a fool in the eyes of the One who really matters - the Lord.
We read about Elijah in his high-points of strength - the triumph over the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:36-39) - and his low-points of weakness - he is ready to give up: “I’ve had enough now, Lord” (1 Kings 19:4). How did Elijah get into such a mess? He forgot this: “The Lord’s power was on Elijah” (1 Kings 18:46). In all life’s ups and downs, we must hold on to this: The Lord has sent His Spirit of power to live in us (2 Timothy 1:7). How are we to live in the power of the Spirit? We need to feed on the Word of God and drink in the Word of God (1 Kings 17:4). We need to pray that the Lord will send His showers of blessing (1 Kings 17:14). We are to live our life “according to the Word of the Lord” (1 Kings 17:16). For our life of faith to be strong in the Lord, we need to listen attentively to the preaching of God’s Word (1 Kings 17:24).
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