Watchmen
“The LORD [is] my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, [and] my high tower.
I will call upon the LORD, [who is worthy] to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.”
Psalm 18:2&3
Do we feel weak and in pain? God is our rock and our salvation, our strength and our high tower. He saves us from our enemies, and we praise Him. It is important to note here that God does not say that we will not have enemies. ”Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth them out of the ALL.” Psalm 34: 19
The Rock… Is our foundation, our stability.
Our Fortress… God surrounds us with His love and His protection.
My Deliverer… He sets us free from evey bond of the enemy. And who He sets free is free indeed.
My Strength… The joy of the Lord is our strength. Even in the face of adverse circumstances, that joy (which is not an emotion) can fill us and give us strength.
My Buckler… What is a “buckler”? Not something that we have in modern terminology! But the buckler was a thing that held a warrior’s armor together, and kept it in place. So the Psalmist is saying that God is our “buckler” and holds our “armor” together and protects us. With out Him, it would all fall apart.
The Horn of my Salvation… Whenever you see the word “horn” in scripture, it conotates strength and power. Who is the “horn” of our Salvation? Jesus.
My High Tower… What is a “high tower”? And what was it used for? Back in Bible days, they had these towers built around their cities as watchtowers to see if there was an enemy coming. They also built these towers out in the middle of their fields, and the watchmen would watch for anything that might harm the flocks or the crops that they were put in charge of.
As pray-ers, we are also watchmen, put in charge of our territory, and we go up into that “high tower” and watch and pray. If we see a threat to our territory, we take action, and we guard our territory. What is our territory? Anything that God has put in our lives, and anything that affects us is in our territory, or anything that touches those that we love. It is up to us to keep that territory free of invaders.
One lady that I prayed with for years said it like this… Those of you who do gardening might be able to relate. She said that when you set up a garden, you first have to plan where you are going to put it, and how big it will be and set up the borders. You define the edges, and put up stakes and draw a line with a string.
Then you break up the ground, till it, and plant your seeds. Then you water the seeds, and watch it sprout and grow. You do not dig up the seeds while they are germinating. Let them grow, and when they sprout, care for those little plants until they reach maturity.
But you are also watching to see what else is growing in your garden, too. If you see a weed seed sprouting in your garden, you rip that thing out on the ground, and get it out of there.
When we pray, we are doing the same thing. God has given us the garden, and it has set boundaries. Things that He has given us to watch over and pray out. We till the ground by prayer, and keep it soft and weed free. And we plant those seeds in the ground by the words that we speak out in prayer. Then we continue to water that seed until it manifests.
Many times when you have a garden, it isn’t so much the weeds that will prevent things from bearing fruit. It is little animals that come in… The Word calls them “little foxes” that come in and snip off the flowers before they reach maturity. Around here, we don’t have too many foxes, but we do have rabbits and deer and other things that can come in and eat the flowers right off of the plants. So you get up in your tower, and watch for those things.
A lot of times it is the little things in our lives that will prevent the plan and purposes of God from reaching maturity, too. Little things… Like busy-ness. It might not seem to be a bad thing, but it nips off your fruit. Little foxes…
So we go up in the high tower, and watch and pray.
“I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, [which] shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence,” Isaiah 62:6