FRIDAY, OCTOBER 6
“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come.”
John 16:12-13 ESV
DEPEND ON THE SPIRIT WITH URGENCY
Years ago I(Larry) moved into a beautiful new neighborhood in the heart of the city. I had just signed a one year contract on a new townhouse and hired a painter to paint before I actually moved my furniture into the space. I bought lunch for the painter during a break and we sat on my new patio to eat. Almost as soon as we sat down, I heard what seemed like one of the loudest and longest train horns of my life. What I didn’t realize until that moment was that I had just moved next to a busy railroad. And for the next few weeks I would hear that train come through between 2 and 3 in the morning. It was miserable but I eventually got used to it and ignored it.
As annoying as that train horn was, it served a purpose of alerting people to the potential approaching danger. And the fact that I got used to hearing the horn didn’t change the fact that if someone was on the tracks when that train approached it would be disastrous. One of the other advantages of having the Holy Spirit in our lives is that He alerts us of potential danger. In John 16, the danger is God’s eventual judgement of Satan and any who refuse to believe in Jesus.
The Holy Spirit initially shows us our need to be rescued from the penalty of our sins. And then on a regular basis, He shows us things that can be detrimental to our spiritual walk or lives of those around us. If we aren’t careful we can be tempted to tune out the warnings of the Spirit. How do you believe our nation has tried to tune out warnings of the Holy Spirit? How have you tuned out the Holy Spirit? Ask God to help you have sensitive ears to the Spirit’s loving and gracious warnings.
