God Knows How To Get Our Attention

When the tornado horn goes off, no matter what you’re doing, you should stop and go to a place of safety. The purpose of the horn is to get our attention and alert us to the danger. Often our lives can depend upon how quickly we act. The horn serves only one purpose; to alert us to the potential of quickly developing conditions that are threatening to our lives and property. The rest is up to us.

But one thing is certain. The horn will get our attention every time it sounds, and it’s best for us to follow recommendations. The decision to sound the alarm is based upon fairly reliable sources; therefore the time it takes to protect ourselves is no waste.

The same is true when we hear a siren. It gets our attention to let us know that we need to move over and open the lanes for emergency vehicles to pass. To hear the siren and ignore it can result in tragedy.

God wants to get our attention. His words are of the utmost importance, and we need to pay attention. It is dangerous to become callous and insensitive to God. The Christian life should be full of the presence of God. The Spirit of God should guide all our affairs, for if we walk in the Spirit, we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh (see Galatians 5:16). We blame the devil for a lot of trouble that we bring upon ourselves by yielding to the flesh.

A major problem we routinely encounter is that we don’t always walk in the Spirit. In other words, we do our own thing our own way. Our mind is so focused on what we want to do, that we can’t hear from God.

God knows this very well; therefore He has His own way of getting our attention. There are many situations we experience that may be God trying to communicate with us. For example, when we feel restless (a restless spirit), it may be God trying to speak to us.

On that night could not the king sleep, and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles, and they were read before the king Esther 6:1. This scripture states that the king could not sleep. He was restless. He did not know that Haman had tricked him into ordering the deaths of all of the Jews. He did not know that he was the victim of a malicious plot to exterminate an ordained and blessed nation of people. All he knew was that he couldn’t sleep and he didn’t know why. So he ordered the history books to be read, and in doing so, he discovered that a Jew named Mordecai had saved his life.

If you are feeling restless, it may be God trying to get your attention. He could be trying to tell you something that may lead you to your greatest breakthrough. He could also be warning you or preparing you for something that is headed your way. The next time you are feeling uneasy and you can’t put you’re finger on it, ask God if He’s trying to speak to you. Then stop, open your heart and listen.

God also speaks to us through other people. And the Lord sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him…, … 2 Samuel 12:1. You see, David had sinned with Bathsheba (a married woman), murdered her husband Uriah, and basically said "whatever". God wasn’t at all pleased with what David did, so He sent a message to David through someone that David would listen to.

We should always be willing to listen to people, especially those closest to us; who have our best interest in mind. Be open-minded and don’t have a "nobody can tell me anything" attitude. No matter how "anointed" we think we are, somebody can tell us something.

So often we look for God to speak to us by blessing us. I believe that we somehow sense that God wants to bless us. It may be something financial, healing, or a special move within our family. Whenever God is blessing us, we should remember to spend some special time with God to simply worship and fellowship with Him.

God blesses us because He loves us. He knows where we are and where we are headed. He knows our plans and His plans. He knows they are on a collision course. But because He loves us so much, He tries to get our attention. He doesn’t want us to fail.

God also gets our attention through unanswered prayer. As long as our petitions are answered, we cruise along enjoying the ride. But when we reach a crisis point and God becomes silent, God gets our attention.

We need to ask God to search our hearts and reveal to us what is wrong. If we have been disobedient, we need to repent and be obedient. If we are praying with the wrong motive, we need to straighten it out. God may be trying to keep us saved.

Did you know that marriage problems could hinder our prayers? Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them (wives) according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered 1 Peter 3:7. Sometimes God is redirecting our focus because other areas of our lives need attention.

Sometimes God tries to get our attention through disappointments. When God delivered Israel out of Egypt, He performed miracle after miracle to break the grip of Pharaoh. When the people finally reached the Promised Land (it took 40 years), they sent out 12 spies to confirm whether or not God was telling the truth. When they returned, 10 out of 12 said, "we can’t do it". Only 2 gave a positive report, so the people believed the majority. They felt so let down that they cried and cried. They were very disappointed.

They should have fallen down on their faces and cried out to God. They would have discovered that God had already given them the victory.

God uses disappointment to get our attention; otherwise we will keep on doing what we’re doing. Instead of blaming God for our disappointment, we should ask Him for insight and direction. We need to trust God no matter what happens. He may be using a disappointment to save us from disaster.

God got the attention of Moses through a burning bush (see Exodus 3: 1-2). He marveled that the bush burned yet was not consumed. God used something out of the ordinary to provide an opportunity to speak. He can do the same thing today. Everything that happens in our life is important. There are no accidents. God allows some things to come our way, and sends other things. Sometimes we simply need to slow down.

Do you recall how Israel brought down the walls of Jericho? They obeyed God and marched around the city seven times. As a result of their obedient faith, they experienced a great victory.

Well, their next assignment was to go on down the road a little way and defeat Ai. Compare to Jericho, Ai was a pushover. If they marched in there in the morning, they would be done by lunchtime. God told them well in advance that all of the gold belonged to Him. But a man named Achan stole some of the gold from Jericho.

Israel was so sure they would defeat Ai that they didn’t even send the whole army. They only sent a small company of soldiers. But they could not take the city of Ai; in fact, they had to retreat. They failed.

Joshua knew that something was wrong, so he sought counsel from God. As a result of a failure, God was able to help the nation straighten out the problem. Many of us have failed, but that doesn’t make us a failure. It may be God trying to get our attention

God dealt with His people many times by taking away their material goods. When they realized their error, they repented. God got their attention. When the nation of Judah defeated the Assyrians, they were so happy that they brought gifts to God and King Hezekiah. But Hezekiah got lifted up in pride, and pretty soon he got so sick that he was going to die. But through that sickness, God got Hezekiah’s attention thereby adding 15 years to his life.

God doesn’t use the same methods on everybody. He knows what it takes to get your attention, and He knows what it takes to get my attention. It could be a restless spirit, a word from others, a blessing, unanswered prayer or some other method. The important thing is that God cares about us so much that He will use various methods to get us to stop and listen to Him. He won’t let us walk into danger without warning us. He is going to speak. We just need to understand how and when to listen.

By: Edmund Brown