Watchman's Hut

The daughter of Zion is left . . . like a watchman's hut in a cucumber field   (Isaiah 1:8)

All the quotes in this post are from the 1st chapter of the prophet Isaiah. In this chapter he speaks of God's coming judgment of Judah and Jerusalem and of its future restoration. There are many applications here for us as well. But first my story for the past week.

Unlike most Saturdays this was one where we did not have to do any driver testing. So the Friday night before we were able to have most of our family over for a nice barbecue. The weather was perfect, we had a great time talking around the fire pit and all in all Jackie and I felt very blessed to be surrounded by our kids and grand kids. Considering all the sugar they consumed we smiled brightly as they drove off.

Saturday I was able to spend some time with one of my brothers talking and sitting beneath the shade of some stately old trees on top of a dune looking over the friendly waters of Lake Michigan. Again the weather was comfortable with a nice southwest breeze. I could not imagine anything being more pleasant.

Driving back home I noticed a bride with her bridesmaids getting their pictures taken by a grove of trees outside a North side church. Her full bridal dress was a beautiful ivory and the whole scene looked gorgeous.

That night Jackie and I headed to a deli down town for dinner and then sat at a nice little table on the sidewalk outside, talking and watching the wide assortment of people walking by. Holland has one of the nicest down towns anywhere and it is always busy with a lot of energy. We window shopped afterwards, had a little chat with a retired missionary to Mexico and his wife who were people watching on a bench outside their residence at the Warm Friend and then we went home.

The week started off great as well. Jackie and I went to a service at the church of one of our daughter's where a prophetic team consisting of 3 pastors from different churches come in to speak words of encouragement to people selected by the host church. Our daughter and her husband were one of the couples picked and in Jackie's and my opinion the prophets were right on. They confirmed for my daughter and her husband what they believed would be the Lord's direction for them in the future and we all were feeling good.

But then in the middle of the week we received shocking news. Joanna, a friend of theirs whom my son-in-law had known for years, whom Jackie and I had met a number of times and who had lived with my daughter for awhile before she got married to a man she met in India while on a mission trip there, had suddenly died at age 31. A throat infection had gone septic and quickly spread to her whole body. She and her husband had 2 young children, were living in India, planting churches and taking care of orphans.

(I will remember Jo the next time someone posts that being pro life should also include caring about people after they are born. Who do they think the majority of people are who actually volunteer their precious time to run food banks, mentor the men and women who get released from prison, care for the homeless and yes, take care of the orphans?)

I was struck by the contrasts. One the one hand - incredible beauty, close family, beautiful weather, bright hope and warm feelings. On the other - confusion, deep grief, crushed hopes and unfilled potential.

As it says in Ecclesiastes, there is a season for everything. The thing is, just as it is sure that there is a time for us to live it is also sure that there will be a time for us to die. One can hope that the seasons progress at a regular and orderly pace and we can enjoy things as we go but it is guaranteed that sooner or later there will come that one last season. We can never be quite sure when it will come. But when it comes, what will be our testimony to the One that made us and had a plan for our lives?

transgressors and sinners will be crushed together, and those who forsake the Lord shall come to an end. Surely you will be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired, and you will be embarrassed at the gardens which you have chosen. (vs 28 - 29)

The oaks and the gardens are passing things. It is foolish to pursue things to satisfy the soul if we forget that time marches on and there will come an accounting that has nothing to do with possessions.

Will it have helped to be religious?

I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, they have become a burden to Me; I am wearing of bearing them. So when you spread out your hands in prayer I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply your prayers I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. (vs. 14-15)

Our ultimate accounting will have nothing to do with going to the right church, being obedient to the rules and regulations of that church or with any other religious things we have done. We are rebels and sinners and because of that our hands are covered with blood.

So what does the Lord then advise?

Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; (vs. 16)

This means to repent of all that we have done outside the will of God and to accept and confess that Jesus died for our sins. It is His blood that cleanse our bloody hands.  There is no other way around the block.

Remove the evil of your deeds from my sight. Cease to do evil (also vs. 16)

True repentance also means that we accept the Lordship of Jesus over our lives. We determine that to the best of our ability we will not continue in sin.

Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow. (vs.17)

This is our obligation. This is the mission field for most of us. None of these actions are a weight on a scale that justifies us before a holy God but rather they should be a reflection of who we are in Christ Jesus.

In our church service this morning we saw 19 adult baptisms. It was quite a diverse group, race wise, experience wise, church background wise. Testimonies talked about everything from attempting suicide, losing a child, divorce, being filled with hate to trying to be as good as one could and still feeling empty.

One of the spontaneous songs we sang that resounded through the church after the baptisms was an old hymn that begins; "Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe, sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow." I smiled because many years before Jackie and I had visited this same building (then a different congregation) to hear Dr. J. Vernon McGee speak. He was a guy I had listened to often on the radio with his Through The Bible broadcast. That was the theme song of the program.

The watchman's hut in a cucumber field is a temporary structure. Hopefully the harvest will come in before the enemy steals or blight destroys but eventually if the field is protected there will be a harvest.

As I look out over the cucumber field I am aware of three things. The enemy is real, the blight can destroy, and many are there who will not be on the right side of the harvest.

God the Father in His great love sent His Son Jesus to be our redemption. See what He says to us in verses 18 to 20:

Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord,

Though your sins are scarlet, they will be as white as snow;

Though they are red like crimson, they will be white like wool.

If you consent and obey, you will eat the best of the land;

But if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.

Truly, the mouth of the Lord has spoken.