No Outet

For those of you familiar with our Regional Office, our driveway used to provide access to West Main St. and Dorset Rd.  Cars who missed the light at the corner would continually cut through our drive.  We’re talking 20-30 cars per day.  We decided it would be a good idea to close off the exit to West Main Street.

We installed a sign that said, “No Outlet.”  Do you think that stopped the cars from attempting to drive through anyway?  Not at all!  The sign is out there plain as day, yet drivers either didn't believe it or paid no attention that it was even there.

Even now, after two years, we’ll see cars drive around, do a U-turn by our main entrance and then head out the way they came.

You know, God’s Word is kind of like that “No Outlet” sign.  It’s there for our benefit to make life easier.  It’s there to guide us on the straight path to keep us safe.  Yet how many of us fail to read His Word or worse yet, read it, but pay no attention to what it says.

I think some drivers think our sign is out there because we don’t want cars driving through our property.  They don’t really believe we are telling the truth, so they drive through anyway to see for themselves.  So too with some of us; God said it, but did He really mean it.  Or maybe we fool ourselves into thinking, “God’s warning signs don’t really apply to us.  It’s there for the other guy.”

With just a cursory reading of the Bible, one can see that God’s directives often come with a warning for what happens when they aren’t followed.  God gave a warning to Adam and Eve in the Garden, as well to Noah regarding the flood.  He warned Pharaoh in Egypt to let His people go and the people of Israel when they began asking for a king.  When people refused to obey His law, He sent prophets to deliver a warning shot to turn back to Him.  He sent Elijah, Elisha, and Isaiah to warn the people of Israel.  He sent Jeremiah to warn the people of Judah.  He sent Jonah to warn the Ninevites and Daniel to warn the Babylonians.

Today, He warns us through His Word and His Holy Spirit.  Are you listening to His leading in your life or are you running through the warning signs, refusing to turn back?  Be sensible and obey God’s signs.  It will get you where He wants you to go, and could actually save your life one day.  To refuse to follow His signs may result in your getting mauled by a lion [1 Kings 13:24] or swallowed by a big fish [Jonah 1:17] or some other disastrous end. Don’t let that be you.  “No Outlet” means “No Outlet.”