And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound –
Revelation 8:6

    Thunder roared and lightening ignited the sky. In the midst of a bout of severe weather that had caused many deaths in another part of the country, a pastor and his family decided to drive seven miles just to get ice cream. They ended up driving into the worst part of the storm and frantically sought cover to protect the pastor’s in-law’s new car from nickel-sized hail.
     Storms and severe weather can be seen as warnings from the Lord in the Scriptures. In Revelation chapter eight for example, we are shown angels with trumpets. Trumpets in God’s word are used to sound warnings. “Blow the trumpet in Zion…” (Joel 2:1). The Prophet Joel’s call to blow the trumpet was to warn God’s people of an impending attack by the Assyrian army. The unrepented sins of Israel had provoked God to remove His protection. The trumpet was to warn of imminent danger and was also a call to repentance - Joel 2:12, 15-17.
     When the angels blew their trumpets, each signaled the release of upheavals in the environment and severe weather including hail and drought, (verse 7) disasters affecting the sea; tsunamis, hurricanes – (verses eight and nine), the “wormwood” of man’s pollutions, (verse 11) and unnatural events in the outer atmosphere (verse 12).
     Today it is very easy to become lulled into a state of complacency insulated by the comforts of modern life. The warning storms of the coming latter day judgments prophesied in the Bible can be all around us, slowly building to the finale of God’s judgment on a rebellious and sin tainted world.
     Jesus admonished us to “watch therefore, and pray always that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man,” (Luke 21:36).
     It is wisdom to heed His warning and prepare our hearts as our Lord has instructed His disciples.
     The prophesied storms are surely coming. Some are already here. It is far wiser to throw off our complacency, heed the trumpet’s warnings, and not let our lust for the things of this life cause us to drive blindly into the coming storm.

Copyright 2011 by H. D. Shively