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Sunday, February 8, 2009

Beeps in the night

It's 3:30 in the morning, I'm awakened by something, the dog is trembling - what's going on? Then I heard it, the stupid battery low beep from either the smoke detector or the carbon monoxide detector. Why does it wait until the middle of the night to go off? Okay, it's a little annoying but I think I can sleep through this. It beeps again, the dog is trembling even more. I though he was going to have a little puppy heart attack.

My husband gets up, takes the batteries out of the carbon monoxide detector- no more beeps. We settle back into bed, the dog is still trembling but hey I can ignore that and go back to sleep. A few minutes later...yup you guessed it...BEEP. I listened to it beep two more times and finally decided to get up.

Now I'm standing in the bathroom hold the carbon monoxide detector starring at it waiting to see if it will beep. It beeps, how is that, there are no batteries in it? With all the wisdom I could mustard up at 3:30 in the morning I shoved the thing in my dresser drawer - take that.

I walk out into the hall and BEEP, it's the smoke detector down stairs, good grief. I precede to go down stairs hauling a chair with me so I can reach the stupid thing. I unplug it, take the battery out and place the thing on the counter only to hear BEEP. Now it's the one upstairs, I go down stairs get my chair and haul it upstairs and dismantle the smoke detector and set it on the counter with it's counter part only to hear the BEEP again- it was maddening.

By now it's 4:05 am, I am not my best at that hour for problem solving - how can this thing be going off with out power? The thought had ran through my mind to put it out in the garage. I'm looking at the indicator lights on the detector and notice some writing in the same color, it said "Push to Hush". Oh man, could it really be that easy? Yup, I pushed it, it beeped (I wasn't smart enough to move the detector away from my head before I pushed it, but my hearing is coming back) and you got it - NO MORE BEEPS. Praise God.....

How many time has God tried to get our attention only to have us roll over and go back to sleep?


In 1 Samuel 3:2-10 God is trying to get Samuel's attention:

2 One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple [a] of the LORD, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the LORD called Samuel.
Samuel answered, "Here I am." 5 And he ran to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me."
But Eli said, "I did not call; go back and lie down." So he went and lay down.

6 Again the LORD called, "Samuel!" And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me."
"My son," Eli said, "I did not call; go back and lie down."

7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD : The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.

8 The LORD called Samuel a third time, and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me."
Then Eli realized that the LORD was calling the boy. 9 So Eli told Samuel, "Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, 'Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.' " So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

10 The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, "Samuel! Samuel!"
Then Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant is listening."


How do we know when God is trying to get our attention? Sometimes it's just a nagging feeling that won't go away. Sometimes He uses subtle and not so subtle situations in our lives. We need to be prepared to hear God and respond when He gets our attention, just like Samuel.

The enemy uses business to his advantage-we tend to think the busier we are the more successful we are. In reality when we keep ourselves too busy we don't take time to praise God, spend time reading/meditating on His Word or just being quite so we can hear when God is calling. It's time we prioritize our time and put God first.

What are your beeps in the night that you are trying to ignore?

Is God trying to get your attention and you're just rolling over and going back to sleep?

Are you looking for the "Push to Hush" button?

When God calls on us we need to be ready to here Him and say
"Speak, for your servant is listening."

We are never alone.

4 comments:

Jan Holt said...

What a poignant post! Thanks for making me laugh (because I too have lived the night of the never-ending beeping) and for the deep thought about becoming more aware. Good stuff! Also, thanks for your kind words over on my blog. You made my day and I'm so happy I could help bring yoga into your world. Let me know if you need any support or tips.

penguinsandladybugs said...

Hmmm....Petals used the word, "poignant," and I like that! I am afraid I avoid the beeps when I'm trying to sleep, but God does have a way of not stopping the beeping :)

Andrea said...

What an awesome reminder of God trying to get our attention. I am thankful HE is patient with us. Blessings, andrea
http://arise2write.blogspot.com
http://andrealuvsallgodscreatures.blogspot.com

Jill @ Sneaky Momma said...

Another thought-provoking post. Our smoke detector always runs out of battery power at 11:05 PM, 5 minutes after our local supermarket closes for the night. :) You would think we would learn....
I think God tries to reach us in so many ways and if we're truly listening, we will hear Him. Thank you for the reminder. :)