Warning Bells
By Shauna Leis
“The word of the LORD came to me: ‘Son of man, speak to your countrymen and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not take warning and the sword comes and takes his life, his blood will be on his own head. Since he heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning, his blood will be on his own head. If he had taken warning, he would have saved himself. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.’’”
Ezekiel 33:1-6
Several months ago, we were watching the weather before heading off to bed. A pretty nasty line of storms was slowly making its way across the state and eventually appeared that it would be heading in our direction. In some of the other states it had crossed, it had spawned severe thunderstorms and even tornados. We continued to watch for several more minutes to try to get a handle on when the storm might hit our area so we could be listening for any of the warning signs. The weather men indicated that the storm would be hitting our area roughly about 2:00 a.m.
The thought of the storm hitting our area in the middle of the night caused my husband and me to sleep very fitfully that night, but we eventually drifted off to sleep. He woke up earlier than I did and started watching the radar to determine where the storm was heading. About 1:30 a.m. I awoke to the sound of tornado warning sirens going off at multiple locations near our neighborhood. Now, that is a frightening sound in the middle of the night because you can hardly see what is happening around you. All you know is that the sirens blaring indicate conditions are right for a tornado to happen.
Thankfully, my husband was awake and anticipated the sirens while I slept until they started ringing. Once I heard them, though, I sprang into action. Our children, however, were completely oblivious and never even knew that we had carried them down the stairs at the sound of the sirens. We were so blessed that God protected us through the storm, and we sustained no damage to anything. All that we experienced was some hail, strong winds, and torrential rain, but God reminded me of the experience and paralleled it with our “spiritual” warning bells.
When we have the Holy Spirit living in our lives and keeping residence with us, we have our own spiritual warning system when conditions are ripe for a spiritual storm. There have been so many times in my life that my spiritual warning bells have gone off, and I have quickly realized that the closer I am to God, His Son Jesus, and His Holy Spirit, the sooner I tend to spring into action and seek shelter from whatever is coming my way.
Now, I wish I could say that at every situation, I have been like my husband and anticipated the warning bells going off around me. 1 Peter 5:8-9 says, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” God wants us to always be on our guard, listening to the promptings of the Holy Spirit to warn us about coming danger. However, there have definitely been times in my life when I have been like my children. A storm of temptation and sin rages around me while I stand there in the midst of it all oblivious to the trouble I am in.
Other times I have simply fallen asleep spiritually. However, when the Holy Spirit sounds off those sirens, I jump out of bed ready to do battle. In this area, I can remember distinctly when I finally heard the warning signs about my marriage being in jeopardy due to my own failings as a wife. I heard the sirens wailing and jumped into action, ready to do whatever it took to keep this covenant in tact. For you, these warning sirens may be about your job consuming your life, a relationship that is not God-honoring (be it friend or more), or lust for power and wealth. Whatever it is, it typically sneaks up on you slowly until it is right in your face forcing you to make a decision to follow God or follow the world.
The only way that any of us will truly be able to hear all of the warning bells of life is by heeding the voice of the Holy Spirit through Jesus’ example. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus knows that He is about to go into the desert to be tempted by Satan. However, he does not go into this situation unprepared and unaware. Read with me Luke 4:1-2a. “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil." Jesus took the most powerful weapons that anyone can take into battle against the dark side. Jesus took the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. He had hidden the Word of God in His heart and listened to the Holy Spirit whispering in His ear the correct path to take.
Dear one, through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we have this same power in our lives, too. We no longer have to wade through life unaware, willing victims of Satan’s schemes. We can claim the power of Jesus in our lives and, through that, claim the ultimate victory!
Pray with me: DearGod, You are so incredibly good to us, and we do not deserve it. You provide us with the Holy Spirit that gives us warning signs along the way of life, telling us which paths to choose and which paths to stay far, far away from. Give us ears to hear those sounds so we will stay on the path that You have chosen for us, the right path. Lord, Your ways are so far above our ways, and Your thoughts are above our thoughts so we know You see the bigger picture. Fill us with Your Holy Spirit and sound the alarms when Satan is at hand! God, we love You so very much and pray all of this in the precious name of Your Son, Jesus Christ! Amen!