ATTENTION - 2
The Bible indicates that God has used what we consider natural phenomena to draw the attention of nations and peoples back to Him. Now some will certainly deny that such happens but by doing so they actually deny the Bible itself. So one can ignore what the Bible teaches or can accept the truth of what is bring said. In the past, nations and peoples have ignored what God has said and history has shown that the world has paid a price for doing so.
If, however, you accept the truth of what the Bible has taught over the years, then it must be evident that God has not only been seeking the attention of nations but also of individual people and has used similar means to try and gain their attention as well. For instance, Jonah tried to defy God and, when asked to go to Nineveh, decided to sail in the opposite direction. So God sent a storm for which Jonah was blamed. He was cast overboard and eventually ended up on the shore of the city he was trying to avoid. God then had his attention.
Another example being Peter who denied God, in spite of declaring he would never leave Him (Matthew 14:31). Jesus stated that Peter would deny Him before the rooster crowed three times and Peter did just that, denying Christ three times as He faced the Sanhedrin just before the rooster crowed and then realized what he had done. God had his attention.
One more example is the story of Lazarus. Jesus delayed coming two days so that Lazarus was surely dead by the time He arrived and Jesus knew that this would be the case for He told the disciples “And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe…” (John 11:15). When Lazarus came forth from the tomb, as Jesus commanded, then He certainly had their attention. “Then many of the Jews…believed in Him” (John 11:45).
Jesus got the attention of His disciples when He walked on water. By seemingly disregarding gravity, He came to the disciples while they were in a boat during a storm. After feeding a large multitude and going up to pray, Jesus had sent the disciples ahead of Him, and in the midst of a storm and extremely fearful, the disciples saw Jesus coming to them, walking on the water. He again had their attention and showed how important it was to maintain their focus on Him (Matthew 14:26-33).
Finally, Job was one who felt totally defeated by the problems that beset him. He had everything that a person of that time could want and was God-fearing but God allowed Satan to harass him to the point of losing almost it all. Because Satan challenged God to prove Job’s loyalty, God allowed him to test Job to the extreme. Job questioned God and wanted to confront Him face to face. Although he was humbled he did not buckle and, in the end, regained all. It was a test that Job eventually passed, but meanwhile God certainly had his attention.
These are but a few examples of how God has used events and circumstances to draw attention back to Him. Perhaps it’s because we need a kick or knock to focus on Him since we often don’t hear “a still small voice” (1 King’s 19:12) which God prefers to use. And we don’t hear that voice because we’re too busy with our own secular pursuits but God tries to get our attention so we don’t end up as they did in the days of Noah.
“But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark” (Matthew 24:37-38).
God didn’t have the attention of people then and apparently not now either and we have been warned about this as well.
“..that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying ‘Where is the promise of His coming?’…For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgement and perdition of ungodly men” (2 Peter 3:3-7).
God apparently wants our attention. What will it take for Him to get it? Wildfires, floods, hurricanes, tornados, changes in climate, lawlessness, what? Hopefully, it will not take a nuclear holocaust. Perhaps we need to remember that life on the planet is really about God and not, in the end, about us.
What will it take for God to get your attention?
It’s something to think about.
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