A cautionary tale…

Best Beloved and I spent our honeymoon in the beautiful Chimanimani Mountains in Zimbabwe. We did not yet have our own car but had the use of a not-so-new Simca that belonged to the family business. It was was no 4x4, more ready for the city than the wilds, yet my new husband, perhaps in an attempt to impress me, decided that it was good for ‘bundu-bashing’ down a rough trail strewn with boulders as far as the eye could see. At first it was an exciting adventure – me the admiring wife, he, the intrepid explorer who pooh-poohed the sign that said, ‘Road Impassable’! Afterall, this was in his genes – his grandfather is still listed somewhere as an early explorer in that part of the world. But the further we got from the hotel, the quieter I became.

Butterflies of fear darted around my stomach! Soon we came to a steep descent into a riverbed awash with smooth rocks that could only be negotiated one at a time. I looked at the steep slope ahead of us and just knew there was no way this poor old Simca could make it. By now reality had chased away Pete’s bravado too, and, knowing that we were now in danger of being stuck in the back of beyond where no one would think to look for us, he set about getting us back to safety. Blessedly, he was and still is, a very skilled driver, and after about 30 minutes of an adrenalin-fueled ‘100-point-turn’I finally exhaled as we slowly negotiated the road back.  

You would think that we had learned our lesson, but over the years there have been other ways with warning signs, and mostly we have heeded them, but every now and then, we just CANNOT believe what the sign says. Today was a case in point. We looked at the sign, but because it was a route we had traveled many times in the past, we dismissed it as something for the inexperienced only. Such stubbornness! The only difference was that this time I at least knew Best Beloved would be adept at getting us turned around, even if it took a ‘100-point-turn’.😊

It requires no great imagination to draw the life lesson from this. The sad thing is that even though we followers of Christ know that the Holy Spirit in us is a discerning Spirit, we too often override the cautionary sign and persist in something that has all the potential for great danger. Like Samson, we persist in ignoring the signs Godsends our way so liberally, sometimes in CAPITAL LETTERS but mostly by ‘nudges’ in our spirits, and, in spite of past experience, rather risk our anointing than deny temptation.

We live in days where the voice of the Holy Spirit will increasingly be our only guarantee of truth, the discernment He offers, our only sure guide. This is not a gift for “Super-Christians”, prophets and the miracle-workers. NO! It is a gift we ordinary disciples should grab hold of daily lest we be deceived, whether by Artificial Intelligence or Human Inventiveness.

The Psalmists words echo over the ages: ‘Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.’ (Psalm 46v10)

We ignore the still, small voice at our peril. Turning around can be a long and painful process, ‘But thanks be to God, Who in Christ always leads us in triumph [as trophies of Christ’s victory] and through us spreads and makes evident the fragrance of the knowledge of God everywhere, for we are the sweet fragrance of Christ [which exhales] unto God,[discernible alike] among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing…’ (2 Corinthians 2:14,15 AMP)

Life is the Great Adventure with our Lord Jesus!