Warnings by God Ignored?

I was thinking about the reason people sometimes can survive horrible hurricanes and tornadoes is because a warning is given that the storm is coming and people respect the warning.
Those who do not respect the warning, or cannot for some reason, too often do not make it through the storm, past the storm, or in the storm.
We get warnings in our lives about impending storms, too. God sends us warnings that someone or something is not good for us, but we ignore the warnings, so when the storm comes, we caught in it and really do not do well. We blame God but it isn’t God’s fault. God warned us; we chose to ignore Her.
As much as we do not want to, say, evacuate when the warning of a dangerous storm is given, it so often turns out that evacuating saved our lives. Why is it, then, when God gives the warning to evacuate a certain course of action and we do not do it, that we blame our shredded spirits on God?
With us all having a finite number of days to live, we ought to think twice about wasting valuable potential joy days trying to weather a storm God never intended us to weather. Much of our misery could be avoided if we would trust God. It is a fact that many, too many people go to church but do not trust God and live and eventually die captive to winds of life we chose to challenge than to avoid when God told us to run for cover.
So, in spite of having a God who is good all the time, we live on the periphery of God’s kingdom blessings of joy and peace. Our choice.
With all we have to do as individuals and as a church, I pray that more and more of us will listen to God’s persistent warnings and heed God’s directions that we take different paths. Our doing what God tells us might not set well with some people around us, but we exist to please God, the source of all we are and all we will be. In the end, all things work for good for those who love the Lord…and whose love for God is marked by trusting what God tells us to do or not do.
It must seem sometimes to God that we are storm chasers, that we consistently push the envelope and dare life and its storms to sweep us up in their mighty currents. There are people who can chase storms and be OK, but they are few and far in between. Most of us are not equipped to handle the vicissitudes of life. We would do well to take cover under God’s protection, something we can only do if we love God enough to trust him.
The storms of life will never cease, but neither will God’s love and wisdom for us, a love and wisdom that says to us, “Back up! Move away! Come to me!” When we do not heed God’s warnings, we must need expect that we will be tossed and turned. Hopefully, more and more of us are getting tired of being tossed and turned.
Have a good week!
Pastor Smith