The Voice of Conscience II

Nehemiah 2:12 And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem: neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon.

Nehemiah 7:5 And my God put into mine heart to gather together the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, that they might be reckoned by genealogy. And I found a register of the genealogy of them which came up at the first, and found written therein,

About the time I came across these verses in my Bible reading and started thinking about what I wrote in the last post, I experienced some sort of a real live illustration of these principles.

The trip from Florida to Maryland for my grandfather’s funeral was just over 800 miles. Lauren and I left on a Wednesday night after Bible study so we made a hotel reservation as far down the road as we thought we could make it so we could get a little rest but still make it to MD fairly early on Thursday afternoon. We didn’t pull out until 8:30 and didn’t figure on getting to our hotel until about 4:00.

Driving up US 1 on our way to I-95 North, I had a short, silent argument with myself about the relationship between the speed limit and that verse in the NT that says to “obey every ordinance of man.” After only a couple minutes, I was able to dismiss the whole thing and kept cruising down the highway. Then I got to Kingsland, GA, and I wished that I had paid a little more attention to what the Lord put on my heart.

Apparently, Kingsland, GA is a little short on revenue. Fortunately (for them), I-95 runs right through the city limits. You can probably tell where this is headed. I had never had a traffic ticket…until I came through Kingsland at __ mph that night. I didn’t realize how far away the policeman’s radar gun would take a reading. I didn’t notice him until he set his blue lights to spinning, and that was well before I made it to him. It took a little while to be sure he was after me, but when he pulled me over, I really had no excuse. Being on my way to my grandfather’s funeral really had nothing to do with how fast I was driving. It had more to do with the fact that I was trying to make it to NC in time to get some sleep…or that Lauren and I were talking and I wasn’t paying attention to the speed…or that it’s more fun to drive fast…OR that I had earlier ignored the voice of conscience. None of which would have mattered to the kind Kingsland, GA cop. So I didn’t bother him with it.

You’d rather not learn the hard way because it always cost you something, but I guess the things you learn the hard way have a little better chance of sticking. And the moral of this story, don’t ignore the Holy Spirit when He brings something to your remembrance or puts something on your heart. He might be doing you a favor.