S5 E17 - Tornado Warnings & Watchmen

We had a tornado go through very close to us this morning, within about 5 miles, but we received no watch or warning notifications. The National Weather Service is having some updates that prevented us from being told - and I'm thankful that we are safe, but others were not so fortunate. 

Ezekiel is called a watchman for the house of Israel - to warn them of God's judgment if they did not turn from their sin. But the prophet was also given a warning - if he did not sound out, and said nothing, their blood would be on his hands. What about us? Are we warning a world lost in sin, or content to stand idly by and say nothing? 

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Transcript

What if I told you that God could be seen in the most ordinary things every day? 

What if I told you that every day, ordinary events could teach us extraordinary eternal truths? Would you believe me? 

 Welcome back to season 5 of the Set Your Mind Above Podcast! My name is BJ Sipe, and I am a Christian, a preacher, a husband, and a father. And I’m excited to share a few moments together with you learning some important lessons from the simplest things. Let’s grow together! 

The last couple of weeks have been rough as far as severe weather is concerned, especially for the state of Kentucky. As most of you are probably aware, both London & Somerset Kentucky were devastated by an enormous F4 tornado that spanned an incredible amount of distance, leaving a wake of destruction and death behind it. Dozens of fatalities and injuries occurred in these locations for those who were not able to get to a safe space before the tornado struck. There is one story in particular that was simply incredible circulating around the internet of a couple that held on to each other as the tornado struck their house, and it literally ripped opposite arms off their bodies. Amazingly, both of them survived, and likely due to the fact that they literally held one another together. Many in our area have done all they can to support these communities, and of course our prayers continue for all those who have been impacted by the recent severe weather in these places. When things like this happen, it’s not a matter of weeks or even months, but years before they can recover from such a catastrophic event. 

There is little that terrifies me more than the destructive force of a tornado – and that is what brings us to this morning’s episode.  I got up and started getting ready for my day and to get over to dry stack for our Friday morning study when my phone started buzzing. It was my dear friend Kerry Brown asking if we were watching the news. I responded no and asked what was going on? The first word he texted back sent my heart to my stomach. “Tornado. Coming from Perryville east between Harrodsburg and Danville. Sirens already went off then shut down. Confirmed sighting.” I immediately checked my phone and my weather app…we had no warnings anywhere. I checked other messages on my phone, no warnings anywhere. We live far enough outside of the city limits that when tornado sirens go off, we simply cannot hear them from inside of our house. But I was shocked…how did we not get any warnings on our phone or anything? I got in my car and turned on the news – sure enough, a tornado was on the ground about 5 miles from our house but going the opposite direction. 

I breathed a sigh of relief but still wondered why did we not get a watch or warning? As we started hearing from other friends who likewise received no warning, they reminded us of a very unfortunate situation. The national weather service has been performing updates to their system for Kentucky, and therefore many would not receive any warnings or alerts in the face of severe weather. I understand that updates and upgrades need to be made for these systems, I simply wish they would schedule them for a time that wasn’t peak tornado season. What good is a warning system that does not warn those in the face of danger? Needless to say, we’re on a little bit of high alert over the next couple of days – and hopefully we will start getting tornado watch & warning notifications again very soon. 

As I sat here sipping my coffee here at Dry Stack, I couldn’t help but think about how similar the Lord’s message to the prophet Ezekiel was to this morning’s events. In Ezekiel 3:16-21, we read the following exhortation from the Lord to the prophet: “Now at the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, I have made you a watchman over the house of Israel. When you hear a word from my mouth, give them a warning from me. If I say to the wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ but you do not warn him—you don’t speak out to warn him about his wicked way in order to save his life—that wicked person will die for his iniquity. Yet I will hold you responsible for his blood. But if you warn a wicked person and he does not turn from his wickedness or his wicked way, he will die for his iniquity, but you will have rescued yourself. Now if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and acts unjustly, and I put a stumbling block in front of him, he will die. If you did not warn him, he will die because of his sin, and the righteous acts he did will not be remembered. Yet I will hold you responsible for his blood. But if you warn the righteous person that he should not sin, and he does not sin, he will indeed live because he listened to your warning, and you will have rescued yourself.”

Ezekiel’s mission from the Lord was simple: he was called to act as sort of the National Spiritual Service of Israel. And by that, I mean exactly what the text says, that he was called to act as a watchman and warn the people of Israel. As the Lord spoke to him, it was his role as God’s prophet to communicate the will of the Lord to the people. Unfortunately for Ezekiel, like many of the prophets the people seldom listened to him. He would warn the people of the Lord’s judgment if they continued in sin, and they would not heed his warnings. As a result, the people suffered on account of their sins and not heeding the Lord’s warnings to turn back. Just like a person who hears a tornado siren or sees a warning and ignores it, destruction and danger is imminent unless the people repented. But the Lord says something else to Ezekiel…what if he said nothing? His entire purpose was to warn the people of spiritual dangers so that God’s people might turn back and live. But if he was warned by God, told to warn the people, and then said and did nothing…what would happen? Well, the people would still be judged on account of their sin – but their blood would be on Ezekiel’s hands. Destruction would come suddenly upon the people, and Ezekiel would share in their fault for failing to warn the people. 

What about ourselves? We live in a world that is broken on account of sin, and everyday all around us people are walking straight towards judgement and danger and they don’t even know it. Proverbs 5:5-6, speaking of an immoral woman, states, “Her feet go down to death; her steps head straight for Sheol. She doesn’t consider the path of life; she doesn’t know that her ways are unstable.” This is the case of so many around us living in sin. The wages of their sin is death, and yet they have no understanding of the real spiritual danger that they are in if they do not repent and turn for safety towards God. They need warned, they need someone to love them enough to say something, they need a watchman. My friends…are we willing to act as a watchman like Ezekiel? Do we love others enough to warn them in a spirit of gentleness of God’s judgment? James 5:19-20 states, “My brothers and sisters, if any among you strays from the truth, and someone turns him back, let that person know that whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.” Your willingness to act as a watchman might just save someone’s eternal soul – can you imagine any job more important than this? Granted, not all will heed this warning…but don’t you think we should at least try? Because if we are content to stand by and say nothing in apathy, what will happen?  Most assuredly, the consequences of sin remain, and many will face judgment as a result…but what will we say to the Lord when he asks us why we were content to stand idly by and not warn others like someone warned us? May God grant us the courage, the heart, and the will to not stand idly by. There is a world out there in danger, let us be the voice that points people to take shelter in the everlasting arms of Jesus. 

This has been the Set Your Mind Above Podcast, season 5 episode 17 – and I’m so thankful that we had this time to grow together! A new episode is dropped every Friday, so be sure to tune in next week.  Also, if you’re able to, go ahead and like and subscribe to the podcast, give us a good rating or most importantly share it with someone else – it would help to reach others that I never could alone.  And more than anything, always remember the following: know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each and every day set our minds above.