Pure Refreshment 1.23 -> Obey the Signals

They have the ability to exert control upon our daily activities. They speak a language that is understood by billions of people.

They also swing from overhead wires and hang on the tops of poles.

Traffic signals are a necessity in today’s fragmented, get-it-done-yesterday society. So in order to keep vehicle accidents as low as possible, intersections are equipped with a series of these devices that regulate traffic in a safe manner. It’s a pretty simple system: one group of vehicles goes through while the others wait. Each gets a chance to pass through the intersection—when the signal says it’s okay to do so.

So what do traffic signals have to do with the life of faith? Let’s take a look.

When a person takes Jesus at his word and believes he is their Forgiver and Leader, a journey begins that will produce as its end result a person who emulates him in words, thoughts, and actions. Between then and the final encounter with him, there are many decisions we have to make—what career to pursue, who to marry, where to go on vacation, and thousands of others. Each of these decisions creates an intersection in our life between our way and God’s way. And at each intersection is a traffic signal.

These crossroads of our journey of life provide two opportunities to follow God: in decisions and in timing. One of my favorite verses in the Bible finds God talking to Jeremiah about this subject. He tells the people of Israel to “stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls” (Jeremiah 6:16a [NIV]).

Making the decision God wants us to involves consulting him for advice through prayer, seeing what the Bible says, and receiving wise counsel from trusted individuals that are Christians.

Yet even after following all these things, a person can still make decisions that are not the best ones possible. The reason involves the traffic signals that are positioned at these intersections of life.

Most countries in the world use a series of three colors to denote what a driver should do at a traffic signal. A green light means go, a yellow means caution (or slow down), and red means stop. Failure to obey these can be dangerous, such as when a driver runs a red light or does not move when a green light is displayed.

God’s traffic light system works in a similar way. A green light means to proceed; a red light means not to proceed, and a yellow light is the indication to wait. A failure to obey these can alsoin our lives, through The key is to get to know God so well that we understandact on them according to what the traffic signal says. be dangerous—we might miss out on something significant God wants to do our lives, or a combination of the two. his directions for the journey and

A great example of the traffic light principle can be found in the book of Judges. God had informed Gideon clearly that he was going to lead Israel to defeat the Midianites. At this point, Gideon had 32,000 men ready for battle, but God reminded him to look at the color of the ‘traffic light,’ which was red: “You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands” (Judges 7:2a [NIV]). If Gideon had went into battle with that number of men, Israel could boast that their own strength saved them instead of God (see Judges 7:2b). Instead, Gideon was told to allow those who were scared to go back to camp. That cut the army to 10,000 members.

What color was the ‘traffic signal’ showing now? Gideon was listening to God and discovered that the color had changed—to yellow. There were still too many men! Another round of trimming down the army occurred, based on how a person drank water from the stream. When God was finished, only 300 were left—only .93 % of the original army! At this point, God revealed the green light, and Gideon and the troops had a sizable victory that showcased God’s power and might.

We can’t say that Gideon always made the right decisions, however. Later in Judges, he was asked by the Israelites to rule over them. The ‘traffic signal’ was red, so he refused. However, he asked for a gold earring from each of the men that gathered the Midianite treasure. Soon Gideon had created an ephod (a priestly garment) that, regardless of Gideon’s intention, served to draw the people away from God. This ‘crossing the intersection’ when the light was red turned the faith of many Israelites away from God and even became a stumbling block to Gideon himself (see Judges 8:22-32).

The journey of faith is not always an easy one. Sometimes we don’t hear God clearly. Sometimes we get impatient. Sometimes we turn our eyes to the wrong things. Sometimes we do the right things for the wrong reasons (or vice versa). The good news is that even when we make mistakes, God helps us to get back on the main road. For no situation we face, no matter how challenging or impossible it seems, is a wasted situation (see Romans 8:28, 31).

Think about the decisions you’ve made along your journey of faith up to this point. What color has the traffic signal been for these? How can you see God’s hand at work in these situations? Are there any upcoming decisions that you need both direction and timing from God? What will you do?

Stand at the crossroads and look. And ask. And when the time is right, may you refresh others as God has refreshed you.

“Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all of its wanting, wanting, wanting is on its way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.”
--1 John 2:16-17 (The Message)

“Experience is never the ground of my faith; experience is the evidence of my faith.”
--Oswald Chambers

Pure Refreshment 1.22 -> A Safety Lesson

15 November 2006

It was a trip I had made a number of times since moving to the Central Valley of California. Get on the freeway, drive to the local airport, and return home. The previous journeys weren't incredibly exciting or out of the ordinary.

Saturday morning changed all that.

On the way home, I heard a thump-thump-thump sound from the back of the car. Not sure what was going on, I turned down the radio and listened closer. Sure enough, it was there and was getting louder. However, I had just passed the last opportunity to avoid getting on the freeway. I had no choice but to pull over at a safe location and find out what happened. After accomplishing that task, I opened the door and looked to see what was the matter. I discovered two things in the process:

1) One of the car's tires was flat.

2) What I considered to be a 'safe' location was anything but safe. The car was less than two feet off the roadway, leaving the distinct possibility of another vehicle hitting me from behind. In addition, I was stopped on the beginning of an overpass, which didn't allow for me to get out and walk to a safer location.

After making a phone call for assistance, I sat and waited. And so began forty of the most nerve-wracking minutes of my life as a constant line of 18-wheelers barreled towards the car at 70 miles per hour.

And in the moments between the phone call and the arrival of the tow truck, I realized what it means to be truly safe.

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In today's society, safety is of the utmost importance. We lock the doors to our homes at night—and activate the security system as an added measure of defense. Computers are data storehouses protected by passwords, firewalls, and encryption. When my daughter goes out for a bike ride, the law says that she has to wear a helmet—and she does.

This insatiable urge to be protected extends to our personal lives. If a situation makes us too uncomfortable, we get out of the situation (or increase our distance from it). In order to avoid dealing with an issue, we fill our waking hours with nonstop activities. For some of us, getting dressed means more than simply putting clothes on—it means putting on a façade for the world to see.

Have you considered that maybe, just maybe, being comfortable and safe are not what God desires in our lives?

The Bible is full of stories about people, just like ourselves, that lived lives of relative safety. When God showed up, they were faced with a crucial decision: stay safe or take a risk. Their choices were based on what they believed about God (who he was and what he could theoretically do).

In the books of Genesis and Exodus alone:

· Noah builds a rather large boat in the middle of the Middle East (nobody even knew what a boat was at the time), then gathers animals and his family, preserving them from a massive flood (see Genesis 6:9-9:17);

· Abram (later known as Abraham) moves from a safe situation to a nomad searching for a land unknown to him (Genesis 12:1-6);

· Abraham later takes his son Isaac and places him on an altar to sacrifice (he doesn't, thanks to God's intervention—see Genesis 22:1-17); and

· Moses goes from tending sheep to leading the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, despite his numerous pleas to get out of the situation (see Exodus 3:1-4:14).

Think about this for a moment: What would Simon and Andrew's lives have been like if they had decided not to respond to Jesus' call to follow him (Mark 1:16-18)? More than likely, they would've lived safe lives as fisherman and missed an adventure that would change their lives as well as countless others. If Paul didn't listen and respond to Jesus' voice while walking to Damascus (see Acts 9:1-22), the New Testament would be a lot shorter.

Whenever God unveils something he wants us to do, our safety is put at risk. Changes have to be made if we are to obey his directions. Otherwise, we remain in our comfortable and familiar situations—and in many occasions, that's more dangerous than obedience.

While in college, we had a problem in my dorm with individuals pulling the fire alarm at all hours of the night. In two years, we heard the alarm over sixty (60) times. Each time, we got dressed and slogged outside despite the temperature and conditions outside. As the number of alarms continued to increase, it became more and more difficult to get out of our warm beds and leave the building. I shudder to think what would've happened if one of those fire alarms would've been real.

So the questions arise: What does being safe look like in your life? Is there something that God has told you to do, but for some reason, you've not combined faith and action together? Can you afford to trust God, whose ways and thoughts are higher than our own (Isaiah 55:8)? What will you do as a result?

While sitting in my disabled car on Saturday morning, watching vehicles whiz past, I realized that I live life too safe. It's time for me to place my faith and trust more squarely in God's hands. I pray in the upcoming weeks that you would notice the changes.

As God refreshes you this week, may you in turn refresh others.

"Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
don't try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
he's the one who will keep you on track."
-- Proverbs 3:5-6 (The Message)

"All happenings, great and small, are parables whereby God speaks.
The art of life is to get the message."
-- Malcolm Muggeridge