"Blind Driveway" Ahead...

I love my morning walks in every season.

I'm always looking, keeping watch for God's beauty to emerge in spectacular and new ways.

He never disappoints.

So, one morning, recently, I noticed a new sign had popped up on the road I typically walk. 

It sits right before the rise of a small hill, before a car tops it, and begins the descent down.

This isn't a steep hill, yet significant enough, that apparently there's been cause for concern, hence the warning:

The first time I saw this sign, I chuckled.

There's just something about the pairing of "blind" and "driveway" that makes me giggle...

Yet, the notification means that those driving must proceed with caution.

Immediately at the bottom of this little hill sits an old ranch with traffic that zips in and out throughout the day. 

If both the driver on the hill, and the vehicle operator coming out the drive (who can't see the top of the hill), don't slow down, there won't be enough time to brake and avoid a collision,  (PS. Having walked this road, A LOT, overall the cars that travel the road pay zero-mind to the speed limit.)

For a brief few moments, both drivers approach one another blindly.

Hence, the admonition.

We live with a lot of admonitions sprinkled throughout our day, reminding us of potential danger, giving us an opportunity to proceed with caution, lest we be hit with some big, unpleasant catastrophe. 

These useful tools are meant to give help BEFORE we find ourselves in great difficulty.

They aren't meant to give us cause to mock or giggle, or roll our eyes...

They aren't rules.........not, yet........but guidelines, that, if broken too often, are destined to become rules.

But, seriously, how many of us see the warning signs, and, sometimes, glance around, think no one is watching and pay them no heed....and, sometimes, just sometimes, we get away with it.

Until we don't.

Human nature tends to shrug off warnings, especially if they inconvenience us, or cut into our pleasure.

"Man-of-earth" (what the ESV calls mortal humans with an expiration date) desires-above-all to live for what "feels right to me;" or, allows me to "live my own truth;" strokes my ego; or, lets me "follow my heart."

We'd prefer to take our chances at not getting caught, rather than sacrificing our own "want to."

But, eventually it catches up with us, and, if nothing else, we're caught off guard, unaware, and left wondering: "What just happened?"

As we step heavenward along the path the Lord has ordained for each of us, there will be such warnings.

We're provided plenty of notifications, posted along the way, not meant to restrict us, but to prevent us from wandering off the path into trouble, or transgressing into strange and diverse teachings, or stopping an undetected, avoidable collision from which it can be difficult to recover.

These admonitions are sprinkled throughout the Scriptures, especially in Proverbs, the writings of Paul, and even those of Peter, James and John. 

We can laugh at them...

...or scoff.

We can think them no longer relevant.

We can look around and say to ourselves, as the Psalmist writes about some of his acquaintances, "In his pride, the arrogant, does not seek God, and all his thoughts are: 'There is no God.' He says in his heart, "God hides his face, he will never see this...never call me to account (Ps 10:4,11b, 7b).'"

That may be true for a season; it may seem like we can "get away with not paying attention to the warnings of life," but, as David (again, in the Psalms) writes, there will come a day when those who keep on playing the avoidance game will be "snared in the work of their own hands" or stand before the throne of God for judgment. 

I find these words both strangely comforting, but HUGELY FEARSOME. 

Comforting in the sense that the Psalmist reminds us a day of reckoning is coming...those who don't seek God; who don't walk according to His ways; who think, if He exists at all, He doesn't care about what we' do here on earth...there's a day coming when all will be made right.

Fearsome for the same reasons. I know folks who "follow their own hearts," and "live their own truths," and long for them to see the "blind driveway" ahead, before the worst occurs.

 FOR ALL OF US, the admonitions in Scripture aren't just included so the Most High God, who sits enthroned as King forever, could write a large, thick book we call the Bible.

The admonitions in God's Word are there for our welfare, for our deep abiding joy, for our wisdom and understanding, for our success (I use this term loosely, for it really means "advancement") along the path of life. 

Truly, they are as relevant and protective for our well-being (in every way: spiritually, mentally, emotionally, occupationally, relationally, even physically) TODAY as they were when written "YESTERDAY."

Whether we heed these admonitions, or not, is up to us...

...because, the consequences of not heeding need to be considered with a fierce fervor:

There is great cause for concern.