A coming storm
“‘Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from Me.’” (Ez. 3:17).
Our senses have been called “the avenues to the soul.” The nerves and their receptors—sight, sound, touch, feel, smell, taste—all feed the brain and are for its use in determining the world around it.
As necessary as are the senses to the brain, they cannot detect everything necessary for our safe-keeping. Up in the crow's nest, the sailor kept out his eagle eye for a coming storm and if he spyed one, it was his sworn duty to cry, "Storm a'comin'!"
In the ancient days, the watchman was an essential part of life. He stood high on the top of the walled city. From his high perch he could spot an intruding army long before the multitudes on the ground.
It was more than just his height that gave him the advantage. It was that the rest of the city was caught up in the busyness of every day life. Also, at night they would sleep soundly, and the guard was thus able to awaken them if trouble threatened. And even the guards had to sleep, but they carefully took turns keeping an alert watch so the others could take their needed rest.
The regular citizens needed those special soldiers because the commoners could not give sufficient attention to protect their safety from the bigger world outside the city. They needed those who could give advance warning of coming danger.
Today, though we need to keep our eyes and ears open to warnings as part of normal operating procedure. Yet even if we have our full senses and brains in use for responsibilities and worldly enterprises, our own senses aren’t enough. We must depend on others.
We need the warnings that are sounding the danger signal by those whose senses have been exercised to discern good and evil, and are already blowing the trumpet of coming trouble and a day of judgment.
We need to give them their proper respect. They are commissioned to call out danger when they see it. We should weigh what they claim, especially if it parallels what God has said in His word.
God gives His waning cries. He sends His messengers. He commissions them long in ahead of the time of destruction. He does this not to cry “wolf,” but because He knows how long it takes for us to respond to the unseen. In His mercy, in His great love for man, He works to counteract our ignorance by pre-empting it in advance warnings that will be believed in time to save us.
But the Lord’s extreme forward warnings tend to create a conflict. Few are prepared to recognize the corrupted condition of the world, ripe for destruction as it is. This places His servants into ridicule by the blind multitudes, and even into danger. Yet, the warnings must be given, let consequences be what they may. Jesus is coming soon and the world must know about it.
I’ve heard it said, “Perception is reality.” In other words, we see what we want to see; we believe what we want to believe. Reality is what we want reality to be. Very powerful people call reality by what it seems to them, and then strike out on great operations and enterprises based on their reality. Others who provide them with the information for reality often realize this tendency and tailor the data they have gathered to make it pleasing to those people in power.
They do this because they don’t want to upset their employers, even if the tailored information is not perfectly true. Since their employers already perceive reality it to be a certain way, to bravely speak out against the employers’ perceived reality could mean punishment in the information gatherers.
But perception often is not reality. If I’m sinking in quicksand I can imagine I’m OK and need not to leave my sinking condition. But when I’m breathing my last, then I will be forced to snap out of my skewed perception/reality paradigm. By then, it could be too late to conform to real reality, and all could be lost.
This world of sin is sinking, and sinking quickly. All the demonic forces are converging their varied methods of destruction on this generation. This is no time to sleep on in apathy. Today is the day to arouse and look at the big picture.
“Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets.” (Amos 3:7).
Our senses have been called “the avenues to the soul.” The nerves and their receptors—sight, sound, touch, feel, smell, taste—all feed the brain and are for its use in determining the world around it.
As necessary as are the senses to the brain, they cannot detect everything necessary for our safe-keeping. Up in the crow's nest, the sailor kept out his eagle eye for a coming storm and if he spyed one, it was his sworn duty to cry, "Storm a'comin'!"
In the ancient days, the watchman was an essential part of life. He stood high on the top of the walled city. From his high perch he could spot an intruding army long before the multitudes on the ground.
It was more than just his height that gave him the advantage. It was that the rest of the city was caught up in the busyness of every day life. Also, at night they would sleep soundly, and the guard was thus able to awaken them if trouble threatened. And even the guards had to sleep, but they carefully took turns keeping an alert watch so the others could take their needed rest.
The regular citizens needed those special soldiers because the commoners could not give sufficient attention to protect their safety from the bigger world outside the city. They needed those who could give advance warning of coming danger.
Today, though we need to keep our eyes and ears open to warnings as part of normal operating procedure. Yet even if we have our full senses and brains in use for responsibilities and worldly enterprises, our own senses aren’t enough. We must depend on others.
We need the warnings that are sounding the danger signal by those whose senses have been exercised to discern good and evil, and are already blowing the trumpet of coming trouble and a day of judgment.
We need to give them their proper respect. They are commissioned to call out danger when they see it. We should weigh what they claim, especially if it parallels what God has said in His word.
God gives His waning cries. He sends His messengers. He commissions them long in ahead of the time of destruction. He does this not to cry “wolf,” but because He knows how long it takes for us to respond to the unseen. In His mercy, in His great love for man, He works to counteract our ignorance by pre-empting it in advance warnings that will be believed in time to save us.
But the Lord’s extreme forward warnings tend to create a conflict. Few are prepared to recognize the corrupted condition of the world, ripe for destruction as it is. This places His servants into ridicule by the blind multitudes, and even into danger. Yet, the warnings must be given, let consequences be what they may. Jesus is coming soon and the world must know about it.
I’ve heard it said, “Perception is reality.” In other words, we see what we want to see; we believe what we want to believe. Reality is what we want reality to be. Very powerful people call reality by what it seems to them, and then strike out on great operations and enterprises based on their reality. Others who provide them with the information for reality often realize this tendency and tailor the data they have gathered to make it pleasing to those people in power.
They do this because they don’t want to upset their employers, even if the tailored information is not perfectly true. Since their employers already perceive reality it to be a certain way, to bravely speak out against the employers’ perceived reality could mean punishment in the information gatherers.
But perception often is not reality. If I’m sinking in quicksand I can imagine I’m OK and need not to leave my sinking condition. But when I’m breathing my last, then I will be forced to snap out of my skewed perception/reality paradigm. By then, it could be too late to conform to real reality, and all could be lost.
This world of sin is sinking, and sinking quickly. All the demonic forces are converging their varied methods of destruction on this generation. This is no time to sleep on in apathy. Today is the day to arouse and look at the big picture.
“Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets.” (Amos 3:7).
posted by David | 12:08 PM
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