Pray the word with David Platt is a resource for Radical.net.

Isaiah chapter 56, verses 10 and 11, his watchmen are blind. They are all without knowledge.

They are silent dogs. They cannot bark. Dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.

The dogs have a mighty appetite. They never have enough, but they are shepherds who have no understanding.

They have all turned to their own way, each to his own gain, one and all.

Whoa, these are sobering verses. Did you hear the language? This is God speaking specifically

about the leaders among his people. The watchmen. That's what verse 10 starts by saying,

his watchmen are blind. Talking about the watchmen on the wall, the person with the responsibility

for looking out for any danger that's coming and warning the people when danger is coming,

alerting them. And God is saying here, the watchmen on the wall, the people who are supposed to be

warning and telling my people about my word and my judgment and my mercy. If they will turn to me,

they are silent. They're dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber and not just being lazy,

but indulging themselves. They are all turning to their own way, each to his own gain.

Imagine the picture of a watchman on the wall with the responsibility of looking out

for danger, warning people of danger, instead of doing that, just feasting on his own pleasures

and focusing totally on himself. And when we read these words from God in Isaiah 56,

I just want to encourage us to reflect on our own lives. Yes, for all of us who were leaders in

the church to reflect our responsibility before God to be on the lookout for dangers among his

people and to warn his people of coming judgment and call his people to repentance and call his

people to follow Jesus. But then there's a sense in which this imagery applies to every single one

of us who has the gospel, who knows that people we will interact with today via email, social media

and person over phones, zoom, whatever it might be at work at home and the places where we live,

...