Rev. Dr. Clay Smith: For whom the bell tolls

I made a visit to Acadia National Park in Maine, a place of amazing beauty. To truly appreciate the glory of the park, you need to get off the road and get on a trail. My wife and I decided to do just that.

Let me warn you: The National Park Service lies. They label trails as "Easy." Only if you are a mountain goat. We walked along a trail that skirted the coast. The Maine coastline is not like any coastline I have ever seen. I am accustomed to sand on the beach or mangrove islands. The Maine coastline was marked by cliffs and rocks, with waves crashing against them. I was reminded of a line from God's speech in Job: "Can you say to the sea, 'This far and no more.'"

As we hiked, I heard the regular clanging of a bell. Trees and rocks obscured my view until we rounded a bend. Offshore, about a quarter of a mile, was a rocky reef. Waves broke over the low-lying rocks. Placed alongside the reef was a green buoy with a clanging bell. It did not take a sailor to know why the buoy and the bell were there. It was a warning of danger.

I wonder how many boats crashed on those rocks before the buoy was placed there. I can imagine a fishing boat sailing home at night, hearing waves crashing against the shore and missing the significance of the sound close by. Before the sailor or the fisherman knew it, his boat was wrecked on the rocks; his life was in danger. He faced the daunting choice of staying on the rocks until daylight or swimming for the cliffs in the darkness. I have a feeling when the buoy was placed among the rocks, the boatmen were relieved.

God places warning buoys. He sends warnings because he does not want you to wreck your life on rocks of reality. The reason the Bible is filled with stories is so we can see choices and outcomes. Through Samuel the prophet, God told his people the consequences of wanting a king. A king, Samuel said, would extract taxes, draft sons into his army and would control more of daily life than they could imagine. The people still wanted a king, so God gave them one. The first one, Saul, didn't turn out so well. God gave them a warning bell they ignored.

Many people do not understand the prophets because they think the prophets are there to tell the future. Not so. All the prophets try to warn God's people that their choices are going to lead to destruction. They were tolling bells, ringing out God's warnings. Most of the prophets were ignored. The people of God were defeated in battle, dispersed, sent into exile and banished from their homes.

God sends warnings to us from the people in our lives. One man in his fifties told me, "I wish I had listened to my Dad. He tried to warn me. But I thought I was smarter than he was, and I wound up making a mess of things." This is not to say you take everyone's advice. But when a person of wisdom and spiritual maturity tells you something, their words might be a warning bell from God.

There is an old-fashioned word - conviction - that we do not use much anymore. Conviction is what happens when you hear a sermon or a teaching that strikes your heart. This is God speaking to you, telling you there is danger if you continue your present path.

I recently heard a pastor say, "Don't make someone else responsible for your irresponsibility." I felt like a convictional bullet hit me between my eyes. I thought about some of my poor choices that had harmed others in the past. I thought about the poor decisions I make each day and how they pile up like plaque in an artery. They bust loose one day, and someone else feels pain or must clean up after me or must take care of me because I was irresponsible. That sermon was a warning bell.

The most powerful warning buoy in my life, however, is God speaking directly to me. No, I do not hear an audible voice. But I hear a voice inside, in my heart, in my mind. I take a second dessert, and the voice says, "Is this wise?" I speak harshly to someone, and the voice says, "Was that necessary?" Old hurts bubble up, and I guard them like treasures so I can justify my bad choices. The voice says, "Isn't it time to let all that go?"

If you listen closely, you can hear God's warning bells telling you to turn away. That is what the word "repent" means: Turn and go in the other direction. Turn away before you wreck your life on the rocks of sin.

To paraphrase Hemingway, "Ask not for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for you."

The Rev. Dr. Clay Smith is the lead pastor of Alice Drive Baptist Church in Sumter. Email him at claysmith@adbc.org.