Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. (Ps. 95:7–8)
MY WIFE, HEATHER, has a clock with a soft-alarm feature. The alarm begins as a quiet beep and gradually loudens to a blaring horn. The problem? The soft alarm is easy to ignore. As the sound grows louder, the brain has already tuned it out. It is easy to sleep right through it. My snooze button isn’t much better. It is so easy to hit the button and keep sleeping that it virtually ensures a late start to the day. Even a blaring alarm isn’t enough for some. A friend told of sleeping through his ninety-decibel alarm for more than two hours, missing a half-day’s work. Any alarm system can be circumvented or ignored.
Ignoring the voice of God is also a common problem. Some become so accustomed to the tug of conscience that it no longer rouses them to action. Others respond to God’s prompting by hitting “snooze,” putting off obedience to a later time. God calls everyone to holiness, but some sleep through the alarm.
What is God calling you to do right now? To forgive? To ask forgiveness? To surrender your will? To cooperate with the Spirit? To answer His call to ministry? Today, if you hear His voice, don’t ignore it. Resist the urge to say, “Later” to the call of God on your life. Say, “Yes, Lord. I will follow You today.”
Whenever you hear a bell today, pray, “Holy Spirit, what do You ask of me?”
Lawrence W. Wilson is a pastor, author, blogger, and avid cyclist from Fishers, Indiana. He is the author of A Different Kind of Crazy: Living the Way Jesus Lived (Wesleyan Publishing House).
