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A Warning Lamp
Yenny Kartika Official Writer
1368Acts 24:16
This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.
Bible Reading for a Year [bible]psalm125[/bible]; [bible]icori14[/bible]; [bible]isamu16-17[/bible]
Inside a dashboard of a car, there is a warning lamp that informs us when things do not work well, such as seatbelt that is not fastened, a door that isn’t closed, problem with brake, or battery condition. The signal from the lamp protects us and the car from damage or accident. When the warning lamp turns on, we can choose to act wisely by checking the car according to the warning and repair, or take small hammer to destroy the warning lamp.
Destroying the warning lamp sounds silly, but sometimes we do so in our spiritual life. We do mistakes, sin, and get the warning from our conscience, but we ignore it. We destroy it so that it cannot bother us anymore, and then we go away. Just like the car that will be ruined when we destroy the warning lamp, so it is with our spiritual life.
The example of this is David, as told in 2 Samuel 11-12. David ignored his conscience when he saw Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite. David tried to deceive that he has slept with Bathsheba by sending Uriah home and asking him to sleep with his wife. And when the plan did not work, David planned Uriah’s death. Hence, David’s sins were more developed, from adultery, deception, to premeditated murder.
David’s conscience did warn him. It is written in Psalm 32:3, “When I kept silence, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.” But the Lord is longsuffering. God did not reset the constellation and wrote on the sky “David, I know what you hide away from Me”; or cry out with a loud voice that the every nation can hear, “David, you’re in big trouble”. On the contrary, when David did not respond to his conscience, God sent Nathan the prophet.
In the end, David repented and God forgave him, but he had to deal with the consequence for what he has done—violence, sexual sin in his lineage, overthrowing of power, and many more. Sin always has its consequence, and it must be taken. If only David was aware of the warning lamp and decided to act wisely, he didn’t need to deal with all these things. And so it is with us; if we act wisely when the conscience warns us, we can avoid the bad consequence of sin.
Do not ignore the warning sign from our conscience. Make wise decision and let God work in our life.
