Praise God for the Red Lights; He Knows what is Good.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:9
So often we find ourselves rejoicing through the green lights of life—quite possibly both literally and figuratively.
Think about it:
You’re on your way to work with a bit of a late start, scrambling so you will not be late to your first meeting of the day, when you see the stale green light ahead of you in the distance; you pray it stays green. As you get closer and closer, it remains green. As you nearly cross the intersection, the light turns yellow and you push on through, barely making it though the light. You exclaim a joyful sigh of relief, thanking the Lord for the fact that you made it through and will likely make it to your meeting on time. And so on it goes.
But what about when the light turns red and you have to come to a screeching halt, resulting in your untimely arrival to work? Are you still praising God, thanking Him for His protection and provision—that which is beyond your limited understanding?
That’s the tough thing though, isn’t it? How often do we navigate through life deeming our ways to be higher than God’s, upset when things don’t go our way? When we hit the ‘red lights’ in life, do we praise the Lord—thanking Him for protecting us from the wrecks we might have gotten into had we not hit the red lights?
Rather than grumbling—or wallowing—when things don’t go our way or the unexpected interruptions and inconveniences arise, we have every opportunity—and every reason—to praise Him. We don’t know the challenges, roadblocks and catastrophes on the road ahead of us; but God does. He may be protecting us from something, or He may be trying to teach us something, or He may be creating an opportunity for us to be a witness for Him and draw others to Him by the way we handle the situation.
In His providence and sovereignty, we can rest.
“Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and He will establish your plans.” Proverbs 16:3
God knows the plans He has for us—and His plans are good. As Christians, He has every intention to work things out for our betterment. All too often, we are the ones who get in our own way.
No, this doesn’t mean life’s ‘red lights’ are necessarily caused by us; sometimes they are, and sometimes they aren’t. It means that when something happens that isn’t for our ultimate good, we can be assured that it isn’t from God because God is only good. God’s will is to give us hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11), working all things together for good for us as Christians when we are focused on Him (Romans 8:28).
The truth is this: a lot of the time what we think is good for us is not what God deems as good for us. He knows what is best for us every time, and when we live a life surrendered to Him, we get to let Him direct our paths (Proverbs 3:6).
Again, our scope of vision is limited, and God’s is not; while we see today (but not always clearly), He sees forever, knowing all things, and fully in control of all things.
When Jesus is guiding us, we have the freedom to rest and praise Him in all circumstances, opening our lives to endless hope and rejoicing, regardless of what lights we will hit on the road ahead. God is greater than our ways, greater than our shortcomings and greater than our sins.
“For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and He knows everything.”
- 1 John 3:20
Here is a prayer for the times in life when we come to the figurative (and literal) red lights:
Thank you, Lord, for this red light. Even though I don’t understand why this is happening, I know that You do. Thank you for Your divine protection. Thank you for keeping me from a wreck I might have gotten into had I made the green light. Thank you, Jesus, for knowing all things when I do not; thank you for knowing me. Please teach me what You want me to learn in this situation. Use this red light to continue to transform me into the person You want me to be, and help me draw others into a personal relationship with You. Thank you for loving me enough to provide for me when I don’t even see it. Thank you for caring for my well-being so much better than I am capable of even caring for myself. You are Lord; I trust in You alone, and I thank you for Your provision over my life. I love You, and I praise You. I rejoice in You and delight in You; thank you for Your presence in my life and for being with me in this moment. Thank you for comforting my heart always and for seeing me as I am. Jesus, You are an awesome and amazing God. Amen.
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