When our family first moved to Detroit in the 50’s from our small town in Kentucky, we had some lessons to learn about city life.  One we learned right away.  In our small town when you heard a siren you checked it out, because they didn’t happen often.  You knew someone was in trouble if the fire truck was speeding toward their house or an ambulance pulled into their driveway.  It would be time to run to your neighbor’s house with any assistance you could give.

We heard sirens when we moved to the city, and we all ran to the front porch to see what was wrong—and then—we noticed no one else in the neighborhood had run to their porches.  The alarms were such a common occurrence that no one paid any attention to them unless it was their house involved.  We soon learned to stay indoors and let the emergency vehicles go their way without our notice.  City alarms only grabbed our attention for a few seconds and then were dismissed and ignored.

Do you remember Aesop’s fable about the boy who cried “wolf, wolf”?  The first time he did it, the town folks came running to help him protect the sheep he was watching from the wolf only to learn he was just bored and wanted some excitement.  His future cries were ignored, but one day a wolf really invaded the sheep; however, no one came to help.  They had become so used to his alarms of the past, they just quit listening to them.

 We ignore alarms that grab our attention for a few seconds and them dismiss them in our daily lives, but we need to keep our minds alert to alarms that God is sounding.  We have been hearing them all our lives, and if we are not diligent we will quit listening when He sends another one.  We can become complacent and fail to hear when God is trying to get our attention.  It’s easy to hit the “snooze” button and not awaken to warnings and heed admonitions God is sending our way.

God has always warned His people in advance of impending trouble and provided a remedy.

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).

“Heal their land!”  Our “land” is in trouble.  God’s Word establishes what His expectations of us are; it promises blessings when we heed His Word and warns of dire consequences when we don’t.  Life styles are ignoring what God has established for His people.  Expressions of Christians are considered offensive; Bibles can’t be displayed on a desk in school.  The list is long; the prohibitions are blatant and many.

We should not be surprised; the Bible warns of times like these.  It is our responsibility to be watchful and not be slack or drowsy.  It does seem that we have hit the snooze button and let the world rock us to sleep instead of arousing ourselves, arising and saying, “No more! God has spoken and we will obey.”

I have a cochlear implant; and when I remove the processor at night, nearly all sound is lost to me.  But I have a clock by my bed that is sensitive to fire and smoke alarms, sirens, etc. and will sound one of its own like a bull horn!  Not only that, it is connected to a device under the mattress that shakes the bed like an earthquake!  It will not be ignored and will continue to react to what it hears until I turn it off or the cause of its action is remedied.

Oh, for those who hear God’s alarm and will react with a “bull horn” and shake us like an earthquake to awaken God’s people to His warnings!  We need an alarm that cannot be ignored, one that cannot be turned off until we give it our full attention and action.  We have heard alarms and warnings before, but the dire predictions haven’t happened yet; so we quit listening and have become complacent.  We hit the snooze button and continue sleeping through the coming storm.

“Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.  Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober” (1 Thessalonians 5:5-6).

God will not force us to live according to His Word, but He will not ignore it if we do not.  His plan will be executed, in His time, and nothing man can do will alter what His Word has spoken.  It is up to us to be compliant.  Just think of all the blessings that are stored up for the diligent follower of Jesus Christ!  Think of what we are missing when we the keep the door shut to them by ignoring alarms and warnings that our loving God is giving.

Alarms and warnings are actually “invitations” to walk close to Him.

“He maketh me to lie down in green pastures…” (Psalm 23).  Like a parent that warns his child about dangers with the purpose of keeping him safe from harm, our Heavenly Father warns us of the pitfalls that line the path of disobedience and reminds us of the blessings that “chase us” when we walk with Him.  “The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure….And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command…” (Read Deuteronomy 28:1-14).

Alarms are not a bad thing!  In fact, they are for our benefit, to alert us to something we need to know.  They carry a message.  They are to heighten our awareness of what is happening that could affect us.

God’s alarm system carries the same message that it did when Jesus walked the earth.

“He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18).

God sent a world-wide message from a blood-stained cross at Calvary.  The alarm sounded loud and clear; and the message is the same all over the world, to every single person, no variation or extenuating circumstance.  Heeding the message of the alarm will change our lives from the inside-out, for the better, for eternity.

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Rejecting it will bring eternal consequences for which there is no other remedy.

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

God has spoken, in His Word!  When one of His messengers speaks God’s Word with a “bullhorn” or shakes us with an “earthquake”—or speaks with a still small voice—let us listen intently so we can enjoy all the “good treasure” that is ours in God’s storehouse!  May we keep in mind that they have been paid for with a wonderful and terrible price—the death of our Lord Jesus Christ who shed His blood for our transgressions and arose from death so we could live, with Him—forever!

~~Delores~~