There are some beautiful sandy beaches along the west coast of Ireland. One time when a group of us were touring, we came upon one of these beautiful beaches. Since the sun was shining brightly, we stopped to enjoy it. As we walked along the sand, we decided it would be warmer and out of the wind up on some rocks we saw a little farther on. Sure enough, it was the perfect spot. Each of us chose a nice, warm, flat rock to stretch out on to do our sunbathing.
With our eyes closed we basked in the sun’s warmth as we listened to the surf. But suddenly we knew something was wrong when one of us felt water at our feet. We sat up immediately and what we saw was frightening! We were now looking at a huge heaving ocean that had silently and completely surrounded us as the tide came in. Our rocks were now islands!
There was no way for us to escape. We could only climb up to the highest points we could find and hope we were high enough. None of us could swim. But had we been able to, the water was so cold we might not have made it.
We nervously watched the water continue to rise, but eventually we realized our ledge of rock was higher than the level of high tide. We could do nothing but sit gloomily to face several hours’ wait, until the tide went back out.
For me, the worst part of all was that, as we looked up the rock face, we could see people looking down at us and laughing. They were safe themselves, but they never shouted a warning to us that we would be cut off. We felt foolish and angry with ourselves for being so careless. But we were even more upset with the people who knew we were in danger but did not care.
With this story of our difficulty comes a warning shout to each one of you. We want you to know that one day soon the tide of judgment will roll in - quickly and finally. Those who are unprepared and careless (those who are not safe in Christ, the Rock of Ages) will be caught. Are you lying back with your eyes closed, listening to the hum of this world and basking in its fun? Take a good look, because time is running out for those in the wrong place. We warn you of terrible danger just ahead . . . where the tide will not go back out.
In our case, after waiting about five or six hours, we were able to get off our perches and go on our way. We were sadder but wiser and wishing that somebody had given us a warning shout. We hope you will listen as we give this shout of warning. You are in danger without Christ, but “whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe” (Proverbs 29:25).
ML-08/06/1995