Once again a message came to me from the LORD: “Son of man, give your people this message: ‘When I bring an army against a country, the people of that land choose one of their own to be a watchman. When the watchman sees the enemy coming, he sounds the alarm to warn the people. Then if those who hear the alarm refuse to take action, it is their own fault if they die. They heard the alarm but ignored it, so the responsibility is theirs. If they had listened to the warning, they could have saved their lives. But if the watchman sees the enemy coming and doesn’t sound the alarm to warn the people, he is responsible for their captivity. They will die in their sins, but I will hold the watchman responsible for their deaths.’ [Ezekiel 33.1-6]
God's message to Ezekiel was not specific to any particular story. It was a general statement about the responsibility of a watchman.
If you think about it, the watchman described here is not necessarily a leader, but a designated watchman. His sole job is to watch for impending trouble and alert the people. That's it.
The watchman has one job in two actions: watch and warn. His job is to watch so he can warn. His warning comes because he was watching. He is an observer and a reporter. He sees and tells.
The watchman's responsibility is not to say "all is good." His only call to action is to report when all is not good - when trouble is on the horizon. The watchman is not a comforter, but an alarmer.
It would make sense that the more watchmen, the better. But, who would want to be a watchman? They are only truly productive in the advent of trouble through their report of that pending trouble. Frankly no one wants to hear a watchman any more than they want to hear a fire alarm in their building. This doesn't make the watchman bad, but means his existence only brings bad news.
If like a fire alarm, the watchman detects danger and makes his warning, he has done his job. If the watchman however fails to see and report danger, that malfunction and the lives lost due to his failure, is all on him. He is not responsible for anything beyond his designed purpose. The fire alarm, by design, cannot remove people to safety as that responsibility lies entirely upon them.
My name was given to me at birth before I had even developed any cognitive abilities. There were no other Gregory's in my discernable ancestry. I was told I was named Gregory because another child in the maternity ward at the hospital had been named Gregory and my mother liked it. Relative to the man I have become, should I consider my naming then entirely random?
From Behind The Name.com, "Gregory" has the following meaning:
English form of Latin Gregorius, which was from the Late Greek name Γρηγόριος (Gregorios), derived from γρήγορος (gregoros) meaning "watchful, alert". This name was popular among early Christians, being borne by a number of important saints including Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus (3rd century), Saint Gregory the Illuminator (4th century), Saint Gregory of Nyssa (4th century), Saint Gregory of Nazianzus (4th century), and Saint Gregory of Tours (6th century). It was also borne by the 6th-century pope Saint Gregory I the Great, a reformer and Doctor of the Church, as well as 15 subsequent popes.
Father, the one thing that seems consistent in my life is seeing things that are wrong and declaring what I see in writing. I really wish I could see comforting things and bear that news but almost every time I set out to write, I end up reporting on impending trouble as it seems revealed to me by Your Word. Does this make me a 'negative' person or a faithful person with a specific place in the 5-fold ministry Paul described in Ephesians 4? In this, I feel like and relate to Jeremiah and Ezekiel. If this is what You have made me, then, may I be found entirely faithful. So be it.
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