Wouldn’t it be nice to be clearly warned when danger is coming? How about when your on a highway, especially in a remote location and then your tire blows out. Wouldn’t you like to have known that before driving miles past a gas station?
From early tornado warning systems that help saves lives, vehicles that brake for you upon approaching an immediate danger ahead, and even medical technologies of marvel to monitor your heartbeat, brain waves and even unborn infant health. All of these and much more are in our technologically advanced world to help give us an edge on being warned of potential danger. Not to mention cancer screening to diabetes, from optomologist to Scientologist and everything in between, we are a people vastly focused on not being blindsided. Wouldn’t you agree! It is however a great thing to be ahead of the curve on coming dangers, and even Christ tells us to be prepared, now is the day of salvation, and even being a sluggard is a sin.
There is a flip side to this; a very real danger to NOT being blindsided. Sometimes God uses circumstances, even being in sudden circumstances to grow us towards his likeness. And yes, I’m talking about our Spiritual life. Our lives as Christians. We want to be well ahead of circumstances and events in our life where problems are few and far between, however, God never promises a pain free life. Regardless of our best intentions or work as Christians, the book of Hebrews tells us of a very daunting reality that even today, this very day our lives carry assurances of opportunity and hope, but it also includes threats of failure and separation from God if we do NOT act.
While serving in the Navy, I remember we would perform something called damage controls, where devicies, circuits and even doors was clearly marked with a red tag indicating out of order and danger if used. These indicators was clearly visible and easy to find, yet still, individuals did not adhere to the warnings, this causing damage to equipment and endangering lives.
So in reading Hebrews chapter 4, lets read starting at verse 12, “For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword,
even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
So at first when you read this, you don’t immediately think about warning or danger. Actually you see a siering fact, how powerful WORDS are in the eyes of God. And not only the power of words are prevalent, but our use of them, and how we apply them.
But I want to emphasize on a small portion of verse 12, division of soul and spirit! When I see the word division, I immediately thank separation, or divide. When something is not whole, its separated. So just think, how something as powerful as described in verse 12 “sharper than a two edges sword,” could the word of God really be?
How many of you remember the old saying “Sticks and stones may break my bones but WORDS will never hurt me!” Although we are reviewing the word of God, just how powerful is the words we say? Words do hurt don’t they? I would have to go as far as to say words are one of the most powerful forces on earth and even in heaven. Especially the WORDS of the Living God.
So think about our early warning systems in our own lives, and how tuned or keen we are to listen to them. But honestly, can we really hear Gods warnings of danger?
In the United Kingdom off the coast of Peterhead, a large group of serious fisherman crusing the coast in their boats found some very prime spots in October to catch prawns and other nice fish. While the seas were rather good and fishing was outstanding, they heard the forecast call for storm-forced winds during the night. With the sea and wind rather calm and the fishing was good, most of the fisherman decided to carry on as normal and ignore the warning.
During the night, the fierce storm started to come closer and closer to the shore, which by now most of the fisherman already turned their boats to safe harbors. As they made their way to port with the wind and waves crashing into their boats, they received word one of the boats not too far from them was reported lost during the storm. After a massive search went underway over several days, the search was called off. This became another tragedy with parents losing their sons, wives losing husbands, and children losing their fathers. All the Fishermans were warned, yet some did ignore the warning and did not take it seriously.
What about us today? What warnings do we receive from God? Do we really listen and pay attention to the warnings? There are many signs but let me explain some most common. First you may notice your prayer life is hindered. When our focus on God seems to be led astray and our prayers are not as often, few and far between, there is a sign for us to move closer to him. God greatly desires his children to be in communication with us. He desires our constant attention, Love and affection.
Another big one is being de-sensitized to sinful deeds. We may be in danger when we tend to ignore sin almost like its water or become more tolerant of ignoring God's instructions to live. For example, What voices we hear is what we tend to lean towards. When one voice is louder than others, we will go that way. Scripture tells us clearly “You cannot serve two masters, either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will cling to one and despise the other.”
Another big one is resisting temptations. Yes its very easy to say, “I’m only human,” or “I’m not perfect.” Those are valid points, but when temptations knocks at our door, scripture clearly tells us “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Does not scripture tell us, “Keep watching and praying, so that you do not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
And these are just a few examples of the thousands of others! The focus I am trying to emphasize here friends, is our mortal expectations that we can do things ourselves is all false and entirely selfish and un-Godly! Apart from Christ, we can do NOTHING! Those who do not believe in God, have faith in God, do not serve God, and have no relationship with God have no hope and peace in life itself and the life to come. No exceptions! Do NOT IGNORE THE WARNING SIGNS!
Inclosing friends, when warning signs are present, you should not ignore them. If you have difficulty in knowing these signs, only Christ can and will guide you. But the real emphasis I want to give here friends, no matter where you are in your journey in this life, a very true and sobering statement comes to my mind in 1 Timothy, “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron.”
Think about it! Our own conscience being seared with a hot iron! That means, friends, that once the hot iron has done its damage, our conscience is no longer our guide. The word conscience in Greek soon-i'-day-sis, means God-given capacity to know right from wrong. Remember, that does not mean all right or all wrong exactly, but there will be a significant difference in the abilities.
When coming to God, what is our expectations? When praying to God, what are we bringing? When building a relationship with God, what are we doing? Friends, we always need to come to Christ with full confidence that if we ask God for the forgiveness of our sins, truly repent, confess that Jesus Christ is Lord of our lives, allow him full access to our lives, in that alone, you will find rest, peace, joy and sustenance. It really comes down to trusting our Lord and Savior; rely on his every present hope in everything we encounter.
Well known Helen Keller, both blind and deaf wrote this quote,”If we trust, if we relinquish our will and yield to the divine will of God, then we find that we are afloat on a buoyant sea of peace and under us are the everlasting arms.”
Very fitting statement from someone who never knew sight or sound in such a beautiful world.
What is our hope friends? What do we cling to when our expectations are mile and fickle? When life has its rumbles, always remember this, God designed us to live in peace even when going through a storm. Yes, you can keep your Godly peace, even during the most severe circumstance.
Hear a reading from Psalms 34, “Fear the Lord, you His saints; For to those who fear Him there is no lack of anything. The young lions do without and suffer hunger; But they who seek the Lord will not lack any good thing. Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Who is the person who desires life And loves length of days, that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil And your lips from speaking deceit. Turn from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it.”
We have the Holy Spirit friends, that is our guide. We need to trust in him, through him, and with him in everything we do. When in doubt, trust God; He has a million to zero ratio in fulfilling his promises, you cant beat those odds no matter how hard you try, Amen.