In 1919, Robert Weine made a revolutionary film called, “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,” where a madman at a carnival used a somnambulist, a sleep walker, to murder people for him.
We may think that this is a very unlikely scenario. However, Satan manipulates sleepwalking people to their deaths every day.
We fill our lives with ironclad routines and the monotony ushers us into the future. We become sleepwalkers. When someone says something startling and brings us out of our reverie, we can become grumpy.
Accordingly, when we try to help people see the sin in their lives, they rage at us, as someone awakened from a deep sleep. However, it needs to happen more often. We need to get people’s attention because Satan’s spell is very powerful. (1 Peter 5:8).
God felt the need to awaken his own people, to bring fear and awe into their hearts. We would do well to absorb these passages and learn from them.
“For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Romans 15:4. NKJV).
Will we learn the lessons, or be doomed to failure?
God takes his Word very seriously. We would do well to cement this fact into our hearts and minds.
God calls Moses to lead his people to freedom. First, however, he has to prepare Moses to hear his Word. On Mount Horeb, Moses comes across a burning bush, out of which God speaks.
He says, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground” (Exodus 3:5).
When God is preparing the people of God to receive the Law, he brings the people to Mt. Sinai and demands that they consecrate themselves and do not touch the mountain.
“Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled” (Exodus 19:16).
In Job, he was discussing God with his friends and making demands of Jehovah. Finally, God hears enough and speaks to Job. However, he has to get Job’s attention. “Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind” (Job 38:1).
God delivered his Word with zest. At Mount Sinai, the effect was fleeting. By chapter 32, Israel had already forgotten. He was not there with the boom of thunder and lightning, so Satan rocked them back to sleep.
Satan sends us to destroy others in our spiritual slumber, by spreading his diseased message. God leaves us Scripture and expects us to teach it to others. Yet, we may have to awaken them first.
God will not bring any more light shows and booming threats. He has left his Word to prove the validity of his power (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
Do not let Satan lull you back to sleep, wake up and see the power of God’s Word.
Richard Mansel @ www.forthright.net