Faithfulness to duty

Call To Prayer

Title: Faithfulness to duty

By: Wale Lasisi

Date: 09.03.2023

And David said to Abner, Art not thou a valiant man? and who is like to thee in Israel? wherefore then hast thou not kept thy lord the king? for there came one of the people in to destroy the king thy lord. (1 Samuel 26:15 KJV)

One of the most prominent features you will find at the entrance of any military establishment is the guard post having a minimum of one or two guards on duty at all times either day or night with replacements on standby, ready to relieve the ones on duty at the shortest notice. Their main job is to watch out for threats, neutralise where possible, and defend the camp against any possible attack where necessary. In biblical terms, they are referred to as watchmen and they watch over the souls of others.

In our text today, we see the error of a military camp commandant, a general in the Army of Israel by the name Abner. After successfully locating a harbour for the troops to camp, he neglected the most important activity of setting out watchmen around the perimeter that should take turns to watch over the king and host of Israel against possible enemy attack. The life of the king would have been lost under his care because of his lack of diligence in discharging his duty.

As believers, we have been called to be watchmen over souls and every watchman must be on guard to watch out for infiltration from the camp of the enemy and deter such. However, many have left their duty post and continued sleeping like Abner. Your title is immaterial if you don’t man the gate to which you have been appointed.
According to Matthew 13:25 (But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way), the enemy can only have free access to walk in and do damage when men decide to sleep. For how long are we going to leave our gates and territories defenceless and totally exposed to the antics of the enemy to do whatever he wills?

Many Christians only react after bad things had started happening to them or their loved ones. That is when they start praying, not knowing that God actually would have shown them the intentions of the enemy a long time ago so they can have enough time to guard against it (Jer. 33:3).
We must therefore take responsibility to wake up and pray and watch to see what the Lord is saying about all that is committed under our care.

Prayer point:
Let’s pray for the grace to be diligent and faithful as watchmen thereby preserving all that God has placed under our care.

God bless you