Wichita doesn’t have traffic. We think we do, but we don’t. You haven’t experienced traffic until you’ve driven in Houston or Washington D.C. or any of the larger cities around the U.S. No, Wichita just has busier times than others….. until there’s a wreck.
And there was a wreck somewhere in front of me yesterday evening as I was in a hurry to get across town. Traffic backed up for about a mile, and we came to a standstill for about 20 minutes. And as I sat there and marveled at the crazy drivers switching lanes at every opportunity (running the risk that they would cause another wreck), I couldn’t help but think about how often we are in similar situations in our lives.
Something happens out in front of us–too far away for us to see the details–but we see the results. The results being the disruption of our carefully laid plans. So what do we do? We compensate. We switch lanes. We scurry and scramble and strategize in order to get ahead. And what happens?
That’s right. You realize that you jumped into the wrong lane too late. Or you realize Plan B isn’t as feasible in actual practice as you thought. Either way, you realize that you should have just stayed put. In all your shifting and scrambling, you ended up spending time and effort to get ahead when you didn’t even know which direction you’d end up needing to go.
The view from my dashboard on Kellogg yesterday, Wichita, KS
Today’s verses are James 5:7-8.
Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen. You, too, must be patient. Take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near.
The Bible has a lot to say about being patient, about waiting. And I’m not good at either one. I can do it, but I tend to grumble about it. But being patient and waiting for God to make the first move makes up a great deal of the Christian life. The Bible tells us to wait, wait, wait on God. Don’t rush ahead of Him. Wait for Him to move and then move with Him.
Now that doesn’t mean His actions should surprise us. More often than not, you can identify God working in your life. You just have to keep your eyes open. You have to be in a place in your relationship with Him where you recognize His fingerprints and respond to His voice. But even when you’re in that place, if you get ahead of Him, if you start thinking you know better than He does, you’re going to get yourself in trouble.
You’ll be like the people in the lanes around me in traffic yesterday. They couldn’t see what was ahead of them. They just wanted to do something. They weren’t happy staying where they were, waiting to see where they needed to go. They took it on themselves to forge their own path.
And, don’t get me wrong. Forging your own path is often a good idea. I’m all for it. But when you try to forge your own path and you go in a direction God hasn’t blessed, you run the risk of forging a path right off a cliff.
So what’s the point? Don’t get ahead of God. Don’t start thinking you have life all figured out and that you know which direction the compass is pointing.
It’s like runners lined up to start a race. They’re all waiting for that pistol to sound or for a horn to blow. That’s the signal that they can move, start running and run for all they’re worth. And that’s what we need to wait for from God before we jump into action.
Jump into action before He’s said go and you might crash and burn. But don’t hesitate once you’ve heard the starter pistol. Once the door is open and you have the chance to do what God has called you to do, don’t wait or you’ll fall behind.
God promised that He’d come back for us. And He’s promised a lot of things in between now and then, and He will keep every one according to His plans. But He doesn’t need us flailing around trying to make His plan work out ourselves. If anything, we’ll just make ourselves so busy trying to do God’s job that we’ll miss His signal to start running in the first place.
Be patient. Wait and watch for His signal. And when you see it, run like mad.
PS: The real moral of this story is just to stay off Kellogg…..
Always Peachy 