Red Light, Green Light.

“You are my portion, O Lord. I have promised to obey your words. I have sought your face with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise.”— Psalm 119:57-58

Traffic lights are interesting to me.

As I sit in my car, waiting for one to turn, I reflect on those bright blinking lights—-Stop. Go. Caution. (or for many drivers, “Go faster!”) They work around the clock, and traffic can get into great snarls when one is out and a repair truck has to fix it. Another interesting light is the pedestrian light on busy roads. These bright icons show us when to stop (red hand) and walk (person walking), and their beeping intensity makes us hurry up!

Both types of lights are designed to keep us safe and free from harm. We just need to listen, watch, and obey them.

The same can be said of walking with God. Priscilla Shirer, in her Bible study DVD, “Armor of God”, describes how to find peace with God and ourselves. Before making decisions (especially large life-changing ones), we need to consult God in prayer.  We need to listen to and observe our circumstances to see if God is giving us a “Green Light” (feeling of peace, move forward with that choice), “Red Light” (conviction of NOT to do it), and “Yellow Light” (unease, doubt, wait on the decision).

I had a phone call out of the blue a couple days ago for a potential job opportunity. I learned more about the position and was quite excited about it, to the point of wanting to set up an interview. Even though it all seemed great, I had a niggling feeling about it, something was amiss. Through a process of prayer, discernment, and conversation with family, I discovered I did not have peace about this opportunity, I had unease and discomfort. I thought of Priscilla’s words above and realized this was not the direction God intended for me to go, so I listened and obeyed and nipped things in the bud. I was feeling “Yellow Light” and knew to listen. And I feel peace flooding my heart today as a result of my “Red Light” decision.

Discernment is challenging. We want an answer “now”. But it often takes time, and we have to be paying attention to God’s movement in our lives. As the psalmist writes above, when we seek God in our lives, He will be gracious to us, when we align our movements with His, great things can happen. How might red, green, yellow, or white “Walk” lights guide your decisions this week?

Prayer—“Loving God, I need to know your direction in my life. Open my heart and mind to discern your presence and be obedient when you ask me to go in a certain direction. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”