Bottom line up front: Responses to the truth-tellers

Illustration: On my way to post the other day, I had a 3-hour drive. It had recently rained. The roads were wet across much of the state. But that did not seem to slow enough drivers down. I witnessed the wreckage of multiple crashes on the drive down. Maybe it’s because I’ve driven these roads for so many years, but I can almost guarantee that you’ll see crashes and skid marks and ambulances and firetrucks on just about any day you drive in or around metro Atlanta, especially if it’s raining or has recently rained. Many folks just refuse to slow down.

Anyway, when I had gotten through the city and was on I-85 south, I thought I had seen all the crashes I was going to see for this Sunday. But I was wrong. When I neared the 85 and 185 split, a driver headed north had apparently hydroplaned with his car on the interstate. His car had turned 180 degrees and crashed into the median, but not before a line of drivers behind him crashed into one another like dominoes. Flames issued from the first car, even in the still-humid thick air. The traffic headed north was at a complete standstill, except for the GHP, firetrucks, EMS, wreckers, and ambulances. They were all racing up the side of the highway, trying to get to survivors and to whatever/whomever else remained.

And it all got me thinking: If people died in that horrible incident, had they given any thought to ultimate matters that day? Had they even crossed their minds–questions about God, about their souls, about the brevity of life? I don’t know, but is it not worth asking?

Teaching: In Isaiah 62:6, God says there, “On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they never be silent” (Isaiah 62:6a, ESV). Much of Isaiah is written in poetic, figurative language, but all he is saying there is this: God sends truth-tellers into his world, into our lives. But we’re not promised them indefinitely. In other words, we’ve all got a due date. And I think it is only wise for us to face that reality while we can and get things right.

Encouragement: I have no idea if or how many people died Sunday on the interstate that I (and thousands of others) drive every week. But I cannot shake the image of those burning cars from my mind’s eye. The cars were just metal and plastic and rubber, but they contained men and women, boys and girls, who were created in God’s image, and I wonder if they knew the truth and heard the truth savingly, before it was too late.

God has sent his prophetic truth-tellers to us, again and again. How did we treat them? God says it this way through his prophet Jeremiah: “I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, sending them persistently, saying, ‘Turn now every one of you from his evil way, and amend your deeds, and do not go after other gods to serve them, and then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to you and your fathers.’ But you did not incline your ear or listen to me” (Jer 35:15, ESV). Cemeteries are filled with folks who thought those are just for other people. We should listen and heed God’s truth-tellers, for we know not when the rains may fall.