I have lived in the city for two months now, and at first, the horns and loud noises that come with the city kept me up at night. We went from Swazi which had soothing, put you to sleep noises … like crickets or rain on a tin roof… to loud obnoxious everything. I learned to somehow tune out the hustle and bustle of the city. It is Survival mode I guess. I was calling my mom on the balcony of our hostel one night and she kept bringing up the whistle she was hearing on my side of the phone. I thought it was odd that she even noticed it, and not only that… it was even bothering her!! I had not thought about it or even registered we had a policeman by our hostel every night blaring until she pointed it out.
The same goes for the deep pit sin can dig in our life. You know that first time you stole a cookie out of the cookie jar, and you felt super guilty??? You remember the second time, and you still felt guilty, but not as guilty?? Now you’re 200 cookies in and you don’t even think twice about grabbing another one. Getting comfortable in your sin is one of the scariest places you can be. Theres only one way you can go, and its further down the rabbit hole. It’s so easy to tune out the convictions of the Holy Spirit…to desensitize it…You make excuses for yourself that you suddenly now believe, because you have told yourself a million times for a false reassurance. The Lord is not going to force you to act righteously or follow Him. He gives us free will. It is our choice to either follow Him, or the empty desire of our flesh. A sin I used to do this with was gossip. I would justify myself and the useless conversations I would have. When the truth is if it is not breathing life …it is only causing death. I am learning to go to the Lord to vent and talk out my frustrations. Every time he changes my heart, and makes me see people the way He sees them. I ignored the red flags for years!! I was deaf to the whistles… muted warnings
It was not until my mom pointed out the policeman blowing his whistle that I heard it and paid attention to it. Now, I hear it every night. Having accountability partners that splash cold water in your face and bring you back to reality is so important. Community plays a big part in this. Friends that want to see you succeed in the best way possible are going to point out the things that are holding you back from that. Bring everything back to the Lord, ask Him to point out things to you that you have gone deaf too. Ask him to bring to light anything that is not of him in our actions, in our minds, or in our hearts. The police guiding traffic is not out there every night to make noises. He is keeping people safe, and guiding them on which way they should go. The whistles you are hearing are not to ruin your fun or mess things up, they are there to create order and keep you safe. I pray you all hear the whistle!
