Most people I notice approach warning signs as if each was a challenge to them personally. Think of the “Wet Paint” notice on the wall or the park bench—it is all but automatic to touch it to see if it’s really wet; right? What is there about these warnings that trigger acts of rebellion within us.

We have mentioned already the response of children when ordered not to touch the hot stove—of course they touch it and they get burned (hopefully not badly). Well, Saint Paul addresses that issue in 1 Corinthians 10.9-11: ‘We should not test the Lord, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes.’ WARNING!

It would seem that we ought to know better when it comes to heeding those warnings from God about doing stupid things to our own peril, doesn’t it? Paul continues: ‘And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.’ There are some things which will get us hurt or even killed in a spiritual sense—we could die to the Lord by being rebellious here.

How many others do we need to see bear the consequences of bad behavior before we get the picture? When God warns us it is for our own good, as Paul concludes: ‘These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.’ The Spirit of God not only tells us where to walk, he also tells us where to avoid walking. We have been warned.