Have you ever gotten a wake-up call that permanently changed the way you think? I’ve gotten a few, but one in particular stands out to me today.
I’m blind, but as some of you know, I love to joke about driving. In college, my joking led to three brave friends inviting me to take them for a spin. They took me out driving in an empty parking lot in one of their brand new cars. It went so well, we decided to try it on an empty road. At some point, there was a polite suggestion that I might want to begin coming to a stop. So I “began.” Seconds later, everyone urgently screamed, “Stop!” I was nearing the dead-end, and had almost taken us into a ditch. The reality of what I was doing sunk in, and I decided driving was best left to Sightlings—I should stick to the lanes God had qualified me for.
King Jehoshaphat, one of the kings of Judah whose story is recorded in the Old Testament, has a similar kind of wake-up call during his reign. Being a king, his was a lot more serious. If you don’t know anything about him, or even if you do, you’ll want to read his whole riveting story in 2 Chronicles. You might also want to read a devotional I recently wrote about him here: https://shereadstruth.com/king-jehoshaphats-reforms/ Suffice it to say, King Jehoshaphat was profoundly changed by God’s wake-up call, which led to him making changes in how he led God’s people.
We’ve been celebrating Easter, which reminds us of God’s wakeup call to the world a little over two thousand years ago, through the life, death and resurrection of his son, Jesus. I want to encourage you to take some time each day to think about the earth-shattering, life-transforming message of God’s grand wake-up call to all of us. Investigate it in Scripture. Ponder it in prayer. And listen for how God is inviting you to wake up to His love.
