Until He Does What He Said

I’ve posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem. Day and night they keep at it, praying, calling out, reminding God to remember. They are to give him no peace until he does what he said, until he makes Jerusalem famous as the City of Praise.

Isaiah 62:1,6-7, MSG

She stared up at a straggling strip of plastic trapped in the barbed wire along the top of the gate. Faded birthday balloons once bright and colorful danced across it, mocking her.

Today is his birthday, and he’s trapped behind this gate. I wonder if today the guard will keep his promise. 

I will wait here until he does what he said.

Since her husband was arrested for leading a small house church more than six months ago, she had faithfully returned every morning, hoping for news of his safety. The guard knew her by name now. And one day he promised to get a message to her from her husband.

Please let it be today, Lord.

But today looked like every other day. Not a sound except the flap, flap, flapping of the long-forgotten birthday wrap.

She reminded her soul that she was not waiting on a mere guard, a man who had promised to give her peace with words assuring her husband was alive. The only promise she could count on was the promise of the One who said those who endure will have a great reward in heaven. The One who promised that in this world there would be trouble, but that He had overcome the world. He promised peace. It was this One, the Messiah, she waited on. He would surely do what He said.

So she returned day after day, believing.

Day and night she persevered, praying, calling out, reminding God to remember. She was determined to give Him no peace until he did what He said He would do.

For some persecution is not an isolated event, but an ongoing state of existence. Of faith. Of waiting. Many wives and mothers, sisters, and brothers stand outside the prison gates of persecuted loved ones today. Long after the news has flashed, rousing prayer around the globe, they remain. Posted watchmen on the walls. Praying. Calling out. Determined to give God no peace until He does what he said. 

This is their reality and therefore should also be part of ours.

Persecution does not happen in a vacuum. We are the body of Christ; when one member suffers, all suffer. And all can #pray. #persecution Click To Tweet

Prayer releases power no prison can hold, peace found only in Jesus, the One who came to set captives free.

I am writing today from an ancient fortress high upon Mount Subasio, the timeless city of Assisi where St. Francis was born. The mountain emerges from the landscape like a tower, giving a full view of the surrounding valleys from every side. Around Assisi’s edges the old Roman wall still stands, buttressed by “keeps” where watchmen were once posted for the protection of the city. Francis himself marched through one of the gates to war as the watchmen kept their vigil. He would be captured, imprisoned, and later return a changed man who would change the world.

Some of us go to war, and some of us are watchmen. Some have the high privilege to serve as both in the course of a long life of service to the King. A day is surely coming when the City of God will be made new. The new Jerusalem will be God’s home, and the dwelling place of God will be with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things shall pass away. (See Revelation 21:3-4).

But until then, until He does what He said, let us take our posts in the service of the King.

The persecuted are going sword to sword with His enemies; some are imprisoned and violated. Some wait outside the prison doors, and some grow up without their fathers and mothers.

Will you climb the wall today?

The work is tireless, but the view is breathtaking.

Lord, I take my place on the wall today. Day and night I will keep at it, praying, reminding you to remember until you have done what you said you would do. Amen.

@audreycfrank

Image by alex1965 from Pixabay