HIS WATCH SHALL NEVER CEASE

 

 

I am standing guard at sunset, but I know I am not alone

There is another one who is watching, from his place upon the throne

He is my great protector, He is watching and guarding

He is taking care of me

 

I’m standing guard at midnight; on an island in the sea

Far from home and all my loved ones, but my Lord is still with me

And the Southern Cross is gleaming, in the starry sky above

And it serves as a reminder, of my Lords undying love

 

I am standing guard at sunrise, with the dawn’s bright sky above

And I know the Lord will keep me, watching over me in love

Now my watch is almost over, but his watch shall never cease

He has given me assurance and an everlasting peace.

                The poem was written by a soldier just before he was reported “Missing in Action”.

 Hagar was an Egyptian servant that Sarah asked Abraham to marry when she felt she was taking too long to get the promised son (Genesis 16). Once Hagar knew that she was pregnant, she started looking upon Sarah with disdain.  Sarah made Hagar’s life miserable, to the point that she finally ran away. Hagar knew about Abraham’s God and alone in the dangerous desert she must have wondered whether he knew or cared about her. It is in that context that “the angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert”(V.7).

The angel  said“Hagar slave of Sarah, where have you come from and where are you going… go back to your mistress and submit to her...I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count…you are pregnant and you will give birth to a son”(Gen.16:7-11). He knew details of her life, Surprised and awed by this experience Hagar gave God a name El Roi- you are the God who sees me (v. 13). Hagar encountered God in a very unlikely place (lonely desert) under very unlikely circumstances (as a fugitive).

Fourteen years later (Genesis 21), Isaac and Ishmael were together when Sarah saw Ishmael scoffing at Isaac. She told Abraham to send Hagar and her son away. This depressed Abraham but God told him to listen to Sarah.  So Abraham rose up early in the morning, took bread, a skin of water, gave it to Hagar and sent them away. They departed and wandered in the desert of Beersheba.  When the water was finished, Hagar placed the boy under one of the shrubs.

She said to herself “let me not see the death of the boy”. She lifted her voice and wept. Then the angel called Hagar out of heaven and said “what is the matter Hagar? Don’t be afraid, God has heard the boy crying… I will make him into a great nation.” (vv.17-18) Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. There was nobody near to see or hear Hagar weeping in that lonely desert. But God was there, close enough to hear the faint crying of a dying boy. 

Earlier Abraham had asked God “if only Ishmael might live under your special blessing” (Gen. 17:18). God responded “I have heard you, I will surely bless him …I will make him into a great nation” (Gen. 17:20). God took care of this son of Abraham “So God was with the boy and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness” (Genesis 21:20). He fulfilled his promise given to Abraham and to Hagar. Today Ishmael’s descendants are a big nation still living in the deserts.

Jacob deceived his father and stole his brother’s birthright. In Genesis 28 we find Jacob running for his life, and on the evening of the second day, He had come to the outskirts of a dangerous city called Luz. So filled with fear was Jacob that he dared not enter the city, even though night had fallen. Jacob made his bed outside the city, on a hillside strewn with rocks and boulders. Alone and frightened he lay down with only a stone for a pillow and the starry sky for cover.

The desolate place where Jacob lay that night is not the most likely place where one would go to have an encounter with God. It’s the kind of place you might go if you were running from God. Jacob must have felt far away from God physically because he was far away from Israel. He was also away from God spiritually because of his deception. It was night, was God asleep? It is in this very circumstance that Jacob had a special encounter with God.

In a dream he saw a stairway running from earth to heaven. The angels of God were going up and coming down it. It’s worth noting that not many people in the Bible ever saw angels. But at certain critical moments in history, God allowed a few people to see his angels at work. It’s as if God would draw back the curtains at a crucial moment to let someone see his angels at work behind the scene. Jacob is one of those lucky few.

Possibly Jacob reasoned that night that God was beyond reach; but he was wrong. The message of the dream was “Jacob, I’m nearer to you than you think I am. Although I am in heaven and you are on earth, there’s a stairway that reaches from me to you. And my angels are constantly watching over you.  When you travel, my stairway travels with you. I was there when you tricked Esau and I was there when you deceived your father.

I am with you tonight and I will be with you in Haran. Everywhere you go, I will go with you. I know what you’ve done; nothing is hidden from me. I also know how frightened you are. I will go with you to Haran and when your time in Haran is over, I will bring you safely back home again. You have my word on that.”  That night Jacob learnt that God is always with his people whether they know it or not.

Jacob never expected to find God in the lonely desert that night, in surprise he said” surely the Lord is in this place and I was not aware of it… this is none other than the house of God, this is the gate of heaven” (vv.16-17). Jacob saw this stairway resting on the earth right where he happened to be. God was teaching Jacob that anyplace can be a “house of God”. If you are his child there is a stairway reaching down from him right to where you are.

Jacob learnt that God was closer than he ever thought; he realized that God had his hand on him and was going to protect him. Jacob could look back on this encounter for the rest of his life, for God gave him a beautiful promise “I will be with you constantly until I have finished giving you everything I have promised” (Gen. 28:15 NLT).  This promise was an anchor of Jacob’s hope. In his later years, he was to hang onto this promise.

After living in Haran for many eventful years, God told Jacob it was time to go back home “go back to the land of your fathers and I will be with you” (Gen. 31:3).  Jacob was scared of meeting his brother Esau but God took care of that.  The meeting with Esau was far from what he expected. The God who has power to control the heart of the King (Prov. 21:1) had softened Esau heart. Instead of trying to kill Jacob “Esau ran to meet him and put his arms around him and kissed him and they cried (Gen 33:4).

On his way back home, Jacob testified that God had faithfully kept his word “I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan but now I have become two camps” (Genesis 32:10). In Genesis 48 we find Jacob passing the blessings of God’s presence to the next generation. When blessing Joseph’s sons on his death bed Jacob said “ may the God… who has been my shepherd all my life, to this very day , the angel who has redeemed me from all harm bless these boys” (Gen 48: 15,16) .