Thoughts On A Given Day

This afternoon on the way home from work I passed a blinking sign that caught my attention. It read “Caution: Bridge Freezes Before Road.” This reminded me of a time during my Sophomore year of High School in Henderson County, North Carolina, when I was riding with my older brother. We were on our way home from a basketball game during which it had begun to sleet. The roads were still passable, with no appreciable accumulation of ice, and we had no fear of not arriving home safely. We were soon stuck behind a car that was traveling very slowly on a two lane, winding, rural road, however, and we could not get around it until we reached Highway 64, which was a larger rural road that afforded an occasional  opportunity to pass. That opportunity presented itself on a downhill, straight section of road that led to and over a bridge. My brother, being the cautious driver that he always was, did not waste a second of that opportunity to pop that three speed transmission into second gear and pass the slower moving vehicle. He pulled that (what would now be considered vintage) Mustang out into the passing lane, and we quickly passed on the left. The RPMs were running a little high, and as he pulled back into the right lane he shifted back into third gear. That was a mistake. By chance we just happened to be on the bridge when he shifted gears. This is the part where I am reminded of the “Caution: Bridge Freezes Before Road” warning. That Mustang immediately began to spin three (it could have been only one, but I recall three) 360 degree spins. By the grace of God, and I am certain that it could have been absolutely nothing else, he managed to get the car pointed in the right direction as we left the bridge and stopped spinning. As suddenly as it had started spinning, it stopped, and we were again propelling forward on the road. I (quite naturally, I believe) glanced in his direction. He looked over at me as though at a loss as to what the concerned expression on my face might represent, and asked, “What are you looking at?” The next day a friend of mine, who was in the car we had just passed, informed me that his mother had melted into the floorboard of the passenger seat in his car when she witnessed our spinout. Again, I repeat, but for the grace of God…

It pays to give attention to warning signs. These past few day the Southeast United States has been blanketed by a huge winter storm that caused massive problems. It was forecasted properly days ahead of time, but the problems were not averted. I am reminded of a picture sent to my family when we lived in San Antonio, Texas, when I was a child. It was sent by the family of my aunt and uncle who lived in Bryson City, North Carolina. The picture was of a snowman they had built. As I recall it through the eyes of the child I was, it was a large, magnificently crafted snowman, the likes of which we were never able to build in San Antonio. On that picture was written the caption, “We built this out of fifteen inches of partly cloudy.” Obviously, meteorology has never been an exact science, and it certainly isn’t now. But there was ample warning of this impending storm that so recently swept through and immobilized the southeast. We knew it was coming. This time the weatherman got it right, but the problems were still not averted. There were still countless accidents; there were still power outages; there were still thousands of cars stuck and abandoned on highways; there were still children stuck at school with no way to get home; there were still injuries, and even deaths. I have heard it said, “forewarned is forearmed.” But there are times we can’t, or don’t, dodge the bullet in spite of the warning.

I am reminded that often in the Old Testament God gave his people guidance on how he wanted them to live, and when they stepped outside of those guidelines he invariably gave them warnings of his impending wrath and their impending judgment. Sometimes the warnings were to individuals, and sometimes they were to nations. The nations of both Israel and Judah were given many prophetic warnings that usually went unheeded. They, alas, failed to dodge the bullet. This failure to heed God’s warnings eventually led to the downfall, destruction, and dispersal of both nations.

God also gave the nation of Judah numerous prophecies that pointed to the coming of the messiah, Jesus Christ, but most of them failed to recognize him when he came. They were looking for a sign, and the signs were there, plain to see for those who had eyes and plain to hear for those who had ears, but most of the people of that age did not heed them. As a result they did more than spin out on a slick bridge or get stuck on an icy highway. They failed entirely to recognize the coming of their eagerly anticipated messiah. In this current age it is still, all too often, easy to fail to recognize when God speaks to us. We, like those who did not recognize Jesus in the flesh, are still looking for a sign, let us pray we don’t fail to recognize it when we see it. Let us pray we don’t fail to hear him when he speaks.

 

Matthew 16:1-4

New International Version (NIV)

16 The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven. ² He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ ³ and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. ⁴ A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.”

Matthew 12:38-42

New International Version (NIV)

³⁸ Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.” ³⁹ He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. ⁴⁰ For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. ⁴¹ The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here. ⁴² The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now something greater than Solomon is here.