Since the disastrous tsunami in the Indian Ocean, governments and scientists are working together to try to ensure that there will be a warning before the next one strikes. The plan is to install “deep-ocean tsunameters” in possible earthquake places in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. When the warning system is complete, those who live along the coasts can be at ease. They have been assured that they will be protected.
Protected? We-e-ll-there may be a few small problems. There may be a “glitch” somewhere in the lines of communication: some sirens may fail—some messages may be garbled—some hearers will not be physically able to escape—some may simply fail to hear.
But the worst problem of all—human nature.
In 1986 an earthquake struck near the Aleutian Islands. Tsunami warnings were sent from Alaska to California, and to Hawaii and Japan. The result? Roads and beaches were crowded-“swamped” one police dispatcher said in Coos Bay, Oregon, and “crazy” in Port Alberni, British Columbia, as people rushed to the shore.
A picture published in Oahu, Hawaii, shows a four-foot seawall at Makapuu Beach, solidly lined with sightseers. If the tsunami had hit?
In Banden, Oregon: “We cleared them off the beaches and the beach loop road, but they flocked back down,” a police officer said.
Warned? Yes, certainly. But protected? Not at all! By their own choice they stayed in the danger zones, enjoying the excitement and looking for a thrill. How foolish can one be?
Very foolish, to risk their lives in that way. But this life is “but for a moment.” When that moment our little, little time in the land of the living-is over, what is ahead? Eternity.
Are you willing to risk your eternal future for any “thrill” this life has to offer? “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:36-3736For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? 37Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mark 8:36‑37)).
There is real and absolutely certain protection for your soul available. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He said it so plainly: “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:2525Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: (John 11:25)).
He bore all the fury of the storm-all the “waves and billows” of the wrath of God against sin-and stood between us and everlasting destruction. How can we not trust and believe and receive this wonderful everlasting protection?
The promise is sure and certain: “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.”