Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live.
Deuteronomy 4:9 NIV
S-c-r-e-e-c-h! Piercing, screaming sounds of “Fire! Fire!” knifed through the darkness of the night. I jerked straight up and glanced at the clock: 3:27. I walked into the living room. No smoke, no flickering flames. But the alarm sounded again, the robotic voice repeating, “Fire! Fire!” Dick got up too, checking each area and room. No fire. No need for an alarm. It was a relief when the alarm quit screaming, and the night became quiet once again.
This false alarm was not the first occurrence. Further, it seemed like it always occurred in the middle of the night. We were almost used to it. So we returned to bed, but before I slept again, I thought about what had just happened; I remembered the old story of the little shepherd boy who yelled, “Wolf! Wolf!” too many times. In fact, he did it so many times that when a wolf did come, and he yelled, “Wolf! Wolf!” once again, no one came to rescue him or his sheep. So now: What if this had been a real fire? We had rather casually gotten up and walked through the house instead of grabbing what we could and running safely out of the house.
Which led to the next scary thought: What if so many bad, awful, terrible things keep happening in our world (and they do) that we get used to them? What if we turn over and go back to sleep and don’t even realize that these warnings are for real – that our world is in great danger, and the “Fire! Fire!” alarm is real, and it is time to get out?
Just as we installed fire alarms throughout our home, God’s Word gives warnings as to what is to come: In Job 33:15-17, Elihu tells Job that in dreams or visions of the night, even in a deep sleep, God may speak to people and terrify them with warnings to keep people from wrongdoing. His Word certainly warns us away from wrongdoing – and danger.
What if we get so hardened to terrible things around us that we don’t recognize and react when the real thing happens? That will be more than tragic, because it won't just be the loss of a house or even a life, but a loss of eternal life. Jesus warned, “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly” (Luke 21:34 NRSV).
Color my World with Love ©2020 General Conference Women’s Ministries Department