Don't ignore the fire alarm...

Have you...
Ever been woken up in the middle of the night by a repetitive beeping sound? You unconsciously with little effort push the snooze button on the alarm clock and discover that the noise continues. This time you pick it up throw it across the room and still the noise persists. What is that annoying sound interferring with my sleep? You try to ignore it and fall back asleep, failing, you finally decide to get out of bed, stumble through the darkness stubbing your toe and tripping on your roomates tonka trunk while making your way towards this mysterious sound. Following your ears, you finally find the disturbance--a fire alarm, not going off because of the urgent need to get out before a fire but only following programming and letting out a warning beep every 60 seconds signifying that the battery needs to be change. Why can't they just make an alarm programmed to say,"hey change my battery because it's almost dead!" Anyways, at this time you are to tired to deal with changing the battery and secondly(if you are still in college) probably don't have an extra 9 volt battery handy. So what do you do? That's right, find the nearest chair, take out the battery and go back to sleep.
Now this worked at a duplex I lived in and by the end of the year I don't think 1 fire-alarm out of 5 had a charged battery in it. Man were we prepared for a fire! But when I moved into an apartment complex, sure enough in the middle of the night I am once again awakened by the familiar beep (why does it always decided to go "uncharged" in the night). At this time I'm a pro with the routine and almost perform it without any effort. Pleased with my triumph over the alrarm, I lay back down to fall asleep but it beeps again! How can this be, I took out it's battery! This apartment complex was smarter and probably realized the fate of their investment lies in the hands of college students. They were aware of the fact, no more battery = no more beep = fire = bad and came up with a way to somehow program and power the fire alarm to continue beeping until it recieved a new battery. Tricky I know! But they could not fool an expert...So what did I do, get a new battery? Nope I ripped that sucker right off the ceiling wires and all and went back to sleep!
Why did I take this time to describe my sleepless nights fighting with a fire alarm? Bored-yes, but also because I have realized an important comparison between my spiritual walk with Jesus and the fire alarm. There has been times when my "alarm" has been beeping constantly at me--excuse me sir change the battery, I'm almost out of juice--How: by praying, seeking God, confessing some sin/accountability, asking for forgiveness or giving forgiveness to someone that has wronged me...These things, like changing the battery, seemed to be to much work so instead of acknowledging the warning signs I chose to ignore it until I eventually became deaf to the sound or ripped it off the ceiling and in my own effort cover it up as best as I could.
Looking back now at some of the biggest mistakes and roughest situations in my life , I can hear the warning beeps before anything happened. If only I would have taken some time to say, "Hey God I know I've been struggling lately, I haven't been making much time for You and I'm getting caught up in what I want...I'm sorry please help me and recharge my battery so I can be sensitive to your voice" Then maybe when the fire actually came-the battery would have been charged and in place, and the alarm would have been able to serve it's function. God doesn't want us to face difficult times on our own..."God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it" 1 corin. 10:13. The way is there just listen...
Peace~