Last night, I was woken up by the sound of deep rumblings in the distance, a warning of an approaching thunderstorm. As I checked the Weather Channel app on my phone, I saw the radar of redness, which verified the oncoming strong winds and heavy rain. Now the other members of my family did not hear the thunder nor see the lightning through the blinds, because they were sound asleep. Lucky them…

If this storm was going to be severe, the local sirens would have sounded an alarm to alert us of the pending danger. Fortunately, they did not, but we did have some high winds and blowing rain. Eventually, when I felt the threat it was over, I fell back asleep.

There are many ways we experience a warning: a rattlesnake shakes its rattle to warn of its potential strike; our car will alert us if it gets low on fuel; an angry dog will growl if someone gets too close; the traffic lights flash yellow before they turn red.

We have been warned by scientists that a solar flare from the sun could cause havoc and wipe out the electric grid. “Currently” our way of life is extremely fragile and totally dependent on electricity.

Scripture tells of MANY warnings:

Moses tells us of how the Lord had his angels warn Lot:
“Then the two men said to Lot, “Whom else have you here? A son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place; for we are about to destroy this place, because their outcry has become so great before the LORD that the LORD has sent us to destroy it.”
Genesis 19:12-13

He also shares how the Lord warned Noah of the coming flood:
“So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth….I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.”
Genesis 6:13, 17

God warns us that we must worship and serve Him alone because He is a jealous God:
“For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God”
Exodus 34:14 
“for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land.”
Deuteronomy 6:15

Jesus warns about the end times:
“You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.

Perhaps the biggest warning we should listen to is this:
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 6:23

“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.”
Acts 3:19

Food for thought: God’s warnings to us are a gift – because He alone knows the future, and desires for us to make the wiser, better-informed, right choices.

Fun facts: When hiking and climbing in the Swiss Alps, do not wear high heeled shoes.

Photo by: Kari Wiseman – “NO HIGH-HEELED SHOES” sign in the Swiss Alps
(taken at the top of Schilthorn Piz Gloria, where the James Bond film “On her Majesty’s Secret Service” was filmed.