Awake and Alert

Caught off guard.

What an interesting phrase that is. Of the pictures that phrase can evoke, one is that of a place that needs to be kept secure from dangers outside. So suitably equipped personnel are given the responsibility to ensure that the place is not attacked. Yet somehow the opposition manage it because they exploit a weakness in the security. What’s more that weakness is not something that was noticed and the defeat was too swift to do anything about it.

A weakness that can allow for the enemy to slip in is sleepiness.

Sleepiness and drowsiness is in some senses funny especially when you’re trying to fight it. My wife loves to share stories of how I will give the impression that I’m not going to sleep only to be found soundly snoring away in the land of nod mere moments later. I don’t want to let her down when she is looking for someone to listen to her, but my efforts are rendered null and void the following morning when I am reminded of my failure to stay awake and alert.

To a degree, that’s all well and good if it’s about time that you had sleep. Where it is a problem is when that habit of drowsiness and sleepiness affects the waking moments. When we should be alert to what’s going on around us, when we should be vigilant to real dangers that could harm us and loved ones, when we should be on our guard, our tendency to stuff ourselves with that which is unhealthy can leave us bloated and feeling somewhat lax. The reactions are nothing as quick as they should be because we’ve overindulged ourselves and grown lethargic.

Tragically, this lethargy and drowsy behaviour can lead to pain, loss, defeat and despair. Opposing forces that look for such gaps in the defence will have a field day taking advantage and ravaging whatever is available.

This is why the call goes up to remind ourselves of who we are. We are not of the darkness. We are not of the night. We are not called to laziness and lethargy. We are children of the light who are to wake up and be alert. In that state, we are ever on guard to see the plans of the enemy thwarted. There is the individual responsibility, but also something about us together in fellowship that should cultivate an environment where we are alert. Not out of a sense of fear and dread, but affirming our identity as people whose lives are infinitely better in the light than it was in the darkness.

Walking in the light should be the catalyst for us to ever encourage each other to keep on keeping on – keep on praying, keep on praising, keep on sharing, keep on serving, keep on with the good work of spreading the good news of the Kingdom and the King. That should be the spark to activate all that we have been given to carry out the task we have been assigned.

As we make it our point of duty to be alert, we know there will opposition and threats. We know there will be resistance and attacks. We also know that we have the weapons to deal with what’s coming. We know we are led by One who does not know defeat. We know our Leader is ever on hand to support those who are diligent to seek Him and place full confidence and trust in Him. We know this happens, however, only to those who awake and alert. This will tend to help ensure that one state we won’t be found in is:

Caught off guard.

(Photo by Tom Bradley on Unsplash)

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

C. L. J. Dryden