Blinking Light

Blinking Light

A couple of weeks ago I was driving my wife’s van and this little annoying light just appeared on the dashboard. It is only a “picture” of an engine. I ignored for a while I guess thinking it would just go away. It didn’t. Thought about just putting a piece of tape over so we couldn’t see it. You see this vehicle doesn’t have many miles on it so how could it be a problem. Decided against that. Saw Clayton (one of our WhoSoEvers) Saturday and decided maybe I should heed this early warning sign and let him come get it Monday and take to their shop. Maybe it just needs an oil change. We’ll see.

You see, the manufacturers of the van designed it in such a way that when the engine was having some problems, when there were some signs that something was wrong or going to become wrong, that check engine light would begin to blink. And when that check engine light comes on, it’s a call to action. Now you can ignore it. You can cover it with tape. You can pretend like everything is okay. But it is not to your advantage to ignore the blinking light on the dashboard of your car. If you do something about it now, it could save you a small fortune later, a lot of stress down the road.

And in our lives, God has what we’ll call an “Early Warning System.” He has these blinking lights that begin to show up on the dashboard of our lives to get our attention, to help us realize some areas that need some help. And when those lights come on, when God sends us His warning signals, it is an invitation to us to take action, to get some help, to spiritually wake up, to make some changes. Yet a lot of us cover it with electric tape.

Maybe…maybe right now in your life there are some early warning signals. There are some blinking lights that are flashing, some areas—maybe a marriage, maybe in your family, maybe your spiritual life—where God is trying to get your attention. So in this series we’re going to talk about God’s Early Warning Systems. God tries to draw our attention to areas of our life that we need to ask for His help (in) or we need to make some changes.

We are not given these warnings from an angry judge but rather from a loving father. God gives us warnings in our lives because He wants what is best for us. So these warnings that we’re going to be talking about…these are not the bad news of Scripture. This is good news that God warns us because He cares about us.

There are many examples in the Old Testament where God is giving his people warning signs – their “blinking light”. In 2 Chronicles 36:15a we read) “The LORD, the God of their ancestors, repeatedly sent his prophets to warn them…”.
Then we see His motivation. It says in 15b, “for he had compassion on his people…”.” So it’s out of God’s love for us that He warns us, that He activates His warning system and gives us these blinking lights. That if we pay attention to them, if we look at the dashboard of our life and we see these areas that need attention, it can save us all kinds of heartache and all kinds of stress later down the road.

Most of us know the story of Abel and Cain (if not see Genesis 4:2-4:16) – the sons of Adam and Eve. Short version – The brothers each bring a sacrifice to God. Abel’s is acceptable to God but Cain’s isn’t. Instead of seeking what God wanted he developed an “attitude”. God warns him! “Why are you so angry?” the LORD asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.” Genesis 4:6-7
But Cain doesn’t see this as a warning. He takes a piece of tape; he covers the blinking light. He moves ahead and does what he wants to do. And…and everything just comes crashing down around Cain.

Now this is a story that we’ve become fairly familiar with. We could all probably point to examples in our own life or of other people who have been warned by God, people who have been given opportunity after opportunity to listen to God and to do things God’s way but they don’t do it. For whatever reason, the blinking light…they just ignore it. They go at it their own way.

It’s not to hard to look back and see blinking lights we ignored in our past. We can see them in hindsight where God was trying to get our attention. But sometimes it is hard to see it when we really need…really need the warning.

But let’s look on the dashboard of our lives now. Let’s think about where we are right now and just ask the question, “Is it possible that God is trying to get our attention?” Is it possible that he is calling us to change, that He is wanting us to wake up and He wants us to do it now so that down the road we can be saved all kinds of heartache, and our families, our spiritual life can be saved devastation?

So are there some warning signs in your life? Is God trying to get your attention? Let’s look at just a few of the ways God warns us, some of the blinking lights that will show up. Here is one of the blinking lights that you can expect. God will send you His Word at just the right time. That’s when He speaks to Cain—when sin is crouching outside his door. There is a supernatural power of the Bible to speak into your life at just the right time when you most desperately need to hear it if you’ll have ears to hear. It is the supernatural power of the Word of God.

In order to see this light, we need to be reading His Word; we need to be praying daily, “God, speak into my life with the truth of your Word.” As we do that, we’ll have a better awareness of His warnings and of His guidance in our lives.

Often God uses sermons and lessons like this one as blinking lights. Over the years that I have been teaching, I’ve gotten feedback from people that will say that the lesson that God had given us for a Sunday was for them – some of you in this room and others from our internet ministry. Anybody thinks this was by chance? That I personally knew what was going on? Certainly not – God had a message for us! Is it possible that God is trying to get our attention, that there is a light that is blinking on your dashboard that you need to pay attention to? He will speak into your life at just the right time. But we have to listen.
Another blinking light that God will sometimes send our way is the examples of others who go before us. Whenever Cain’s name is mentioned in the New Testament, it is always used as a bad example. In other words, in the New Testament Cain becomes the blinking light. The New Testament writers point to Cain and say to the rest of us, “Look, be careful. Be careful of following the path that Cain was on because if you do, here is what will happen to you.” First John 3:12 says, “We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother.” Jude 11, “What sorrow awaits them! For they follow in the footsteps of Cain…”
We have other examples as well—people who are, for us, an example of what will happen if we continue down the path we’re on. There is something about seeing someone else experience the consequences of the decisions we are now making. We see that they made the same decisions we’re now making and here is what happened to them, and it’s an opportunity for God to get our attention.

Mistakes others around us make can serve as a warning to you: “Look, if you keep going down this path, if you keep going in the direction you’re going, you’re going to end up in the same place.” So God will sometimes speak to us…He will sometimes warn us through the life of someone else.

Here is another blinking light that God will use: He will use the words of someone in your life. Now here is the thing. You may not know this, but most people know…like friends and family…they know about your blinking lights. Now, they may not know about their own, but they know about yours. And when you’re not around, your friends and family will talk about the blinking lights on your dashboard. Do you know that? Every once in awhile…not very often… you’ll have one of them who will come to you and say, “Your check engine light is on, and you probably ought to give that some attention.” Now when someone comes to you and points out a blinking light in your life, your response, like most, is to become defensive. “You see my dashboard…? You ought to see your dashboard! My light is blinking; but you motor is “knocking”. Why don’t you change your oil, pal?” So we quickly become defensive … But maybe that is the voice of God in your life. The Bible says in Proverbs 27:6 that “wounds from a friend can be trusted.” Maybe you have a friend who comes to you and says, “I don’t want to overstep here but it seems to me that your drinking has become more and more of a problem. Look, I don’t want to make you upset but I’ve got some real concerns about your teenage son, and I know this is awkward but I feel like I need to talk to you about it.” The tendency is to be defensive, but maybe this is God’s warning system and He has sent someone into your life. Maybe it’s a pastor, or a parent, or a teacher, or a neighbor, or maybe it’s a child or a stranger. They come and they say something to you, and if you’ll have ears to hear you’ll realize this isn’t…this isn’t them speaking. God is saying something to me.

Another blinking light for us is sometimes a sample of future consequences. Here is what God will do. He’ll give us a taste of what the consequences will be if we continue down the path that we’re on. So what He’ll do is He will allow a fender bender to prevent us from a train wreck down the road. Maybe that is where some of you are.

Another blinking light is the supernatural leading from God. We don’t always call it a supernatural leading. We sometimes call it a coincidence. We sometimes call it, you know, chance, luck, or maybe even indigestion. (I personally do not believe in luck or chance for a Christian) We just kind of dismiss it. But it is very likely that God speaks to us more than we realize. But we just don’t see it. Sometimes we can see it and we go like ---, “How can you not see it? God is trying to get your attention here! How can you not see it? How can you think that is just chance?” But we can dismiss it. And I know I can do it too.

So today let’s just look at some of the lights that may be blinking on the dashboards of our lives. One of the biggest reasons we miss God’s voice in our lives…one of the biggest reasons we miss those blinking lights is because we’re going so fast. I didn’t even see the light. You need to slow down. So hit the brakes a little bit. Slow down a little bit more now.

We have been talking about blinking lights on the dashboard but let’s switch for a moment to a road sign. It is a sign put up by Jesus: It’s a U-turn sign. It says, “Look, today is the day. Now is the time. It doesn’t have to be this way.” God says turn around, “It’s not too late. You can still do the right thing.” The reason it is not too late is because Jesus has paid your price. He has died on the cross for your sins. So He specializes in coming onto the scenes of wrecks and putting the pieces back together if you’ll just turn things over to Him. So there is a light that is flashing on your dashboard. What are you going to do? Ignore it? Put it off? Cover it with a piece of tape? Or will you listen to God’s loving voice in your life warning you to take action?