Morning Coffee With Renae

Hello again! So sorry for my long absence, my friends. After bringing back some kind of stomach flu from our Laredo mission trip, beginning The Promise season, starting school, and praying through my dad’s recent surgery—which turned out to be much more serious than any of us expected—something had to give. The good news is, the flu is long past, The Promise is well under way, school is in full swing, and my dad is on the path to recovery! Praise God.

(Here I am in The Promise, as Jesus brings my daughter back to life.)

So, with no further ado, here is our next entry in Amos.

Amos 3:6-8 “When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it? Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets. The lion has roared—who will not fear? The Sovereign LORD has spoken—who can but prophesy?”

Mark and I were newly married. He was fresh out of seminary, and I was in my early years of teaching. He pastored a tiny church in the Texas Hill Country, in a county which boasted the oldest average age in the United States. It was a retirement community, and young people were looked upon with suspicion.

After visiting one of our prospective church members one evening, we found ourselves down a dark country road, with nothing but the faint stars and our headlights to guide us. And, it was raining. We drove at a snail’s pace, because we could only see a few yards in front of the car.

Before we knew it, we saw tell-tale red-and-white lights flashing behind us. “May I see your driver’s license and registration, please?” the officer asked.

Mark handed the items over.

“What is your business in these parts?”

“I’m a pastor, out on visitation.”

The man shined his flashlight in my twenty-three-year-old eyes, then looked back at Mark as if to say, “Sure, you are.” He then wrote my husband a ticket for speeding, for running a stop sign, and listed “suspicious behavior” as well.

I’m not kidding. Really, how could I make something like that up?

First of all, we weren’t speeding. We were barely crawling.

Second, there was no stop sign. We went back the next day—in broad daylight—and checked.

Third, the only thing suspicious about us was that we happened to be born about half a century later than most of the residents of that county. For shame, for shame.

My point in sharing this sad little tale is this: God doesn’t work that way. He doesn’t dole out punishments for make-believe crimes, just because He doesn’t like us. On the contrary. He does punish us. But He never sends punishment without first issueing a warning.

In most cases, He issues warning after warning. After warning.

Friends, when God speaks, we need to listen. He speaks through His Word, which is more up-to-date than the evening news. As the great J. Vernon McGee said, “Tomorrow morning’s paper will be out of date by noon when the afternoon edition comes off the press. But the Word of God will be just as good the next day and on to the end of time.”

He also issues warnings through the Holy Spirit. Any true child of God knows when we are going against God’s ways, because we feel it in our spirits. His Spirit whispers gentle warnings to our spirits, wooing us away from our sinful behavior, back to the safety of God’s arms.

But God is no wimp, dear friends. He doesn’t sit idly by, pacing and biting his nails and fretting that we aren’t behaving. His threats are never empty. He is a fierce God as well as a loving one, and that ferocity is to be feared and awed and revered. When we ignore His warnings, trouble will come. No doubt about it.

Is the trumpet sounding in your life, my friend? Is the lion roaring? It’s not too late. It’s never too late for us to drop our sinful behavior and flee to our Father, who loves us, and who only wants what is best for us.

Dear Father, Help me to heed Your warnings in my life, in my family, in my career, in everything I do. Thank You for Your warnings, for I know they are intended to keep me from disaster. Amen

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