The Quiet Alarm

Some alarm ringtones are so harsh that they make us jump out of bed. Others, however, are quiet and soothing. They almost seem to tell you, "It's OK to stay in bed a little while longer. Just let me gently wake you up. I was never able to use those kinds of ringtones in the past. I always needed the harsh alarm and, as I said yesterday, that did not work sometimes even from across the room! In more recent years, I don't need all that anymore. I don't even turn on a ringtone. The phone vibrating on the stand next to my bed is enough now. I am more responsive to the alarm.

While they were bringing out the money that had been taken into the temple of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the LORD that had been given through Moses. (2 Chronicles 34:14 NIV)

The people of Judah received a "quiet" alarm. God didn't knock them off a donkey on the way to doing something in rebellion against God. There was no blindness for three days. There was no voice from the heavens. They simply found an old, dusty Bible that no one had been reading.

Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a book." And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king. When the king heard the words of the Law, he tore his robes. (2 Chronicles 34:18-19 NIV)

That quiet alarm was all they needed, though. They were ready and willing to wake up. When they read the word in God's Law and realized they were in the distant country, they immediately repented of their sin. It started with the King and continued out to everyone through the kingdom.

The king stood by his pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the LORD--to follow the LORD and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, and to obey the words of the covenant written in this book. Then he had everyone in Jerusalem and Benjamin pledge themselves to it; the people of Jerusalem did this in accordance with the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors. (2 Chronicles 34:31-32 NIV)

How about you? Do you respond to a quiet reminder that you are far away from God? Do you respond to the warning signs even before you get to the distant country? Do you hear the warnings before you even leave home?