We were driving on the Interstate through Illinois on our way to Indianapolis when a highway sign caught my attention. It was not a particularly unusual sign, just another rectangle, two feet wide and probably three feet long fastened to two poles set in the ground. The sign was white with a ribbon of red about an inch in from the edge all around the face. The lettering was the same red as the trim line. It was just a plain, ordinary highway sign that provided a specific instruction for the specific roadway along which we were cruising.
The words on the sign were centered horizontally and vertically, and, except for the first line, were displayed one under the other. The first line read, “NO STOPPING.” The second line had the word, “STANDING,” and the third line had the word, “PARKING.” “No stopping, standing, or parking.” Given the sheer number of vehicles on the road at the moment I caught sight of the sign, I could tell this was very good advice! This was a not a place for casual dalliance. The need here was simple: keep moving!
I found it interesting that there are occasions when, for the greater good of public safety, the Illinois Department of Transportation recognizes the best strategy for self-preservation is to keep moving, presumably to some place more safe and conducive to stopping, standing, or parking. Similar advice was penned nearly 3,000 years ago for people making the journey of faith.
The Bible’s Psalm One opens with these words:
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on His law, he meditates day and night.
These words are what caused me to pay special attention to the Illinois highway sign. Here in this Psalm God advises those who would follow him to take care not to “stop, stand, or park it,” in the philosophies and cultural practices of the world around them, but to press on, to keep moving into understanding and appreciation of God and His self-revelation. God urges them to find their personal, spiritual motivation and contentment in who God is and how God is, which God reveals in His word (the Bible) and in His Son, Jesus Christ.
I watch the various conversations that arise on Facebook and read the diverse articles in the news and listen to the speeches people make lamenting or praising a politician or a political platform and I wonder to myself, “What would happen if that person pushed on, refused to stop, stand, or park here, and kept going into an open-minded, open-hearted search to understand God’s sovereignty in the world, or God’s passion for the poor, or God’s righteousness or holiness in relation to policy or practice?”
I wonder how our opinions and actions would change if we began to know and act from God’s perspective
(as He has actually revealed Himself and not necessarily as someone else has interpreted or misinterpreted Him). I wonder how many conflicts would resolve, how much anxiety and angst would wane if we found our delight in God’s self-revelation if we kept moving through to His understanding of Himself and of us rather than searching for satisfaction only in the acquiescence of others to our personal political and social interests?
The Psalmist provides this response to these questions of mine: “He [the one who keeps moving] is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.” Fruitfulness, vitality, endurance, a beautiful picture of what can happen when we heed God’s advice to keep moving through all the other considerations that bombard us into the knowledge of Himself that He provides.
Each month a member of the Cook County Ministerium will offer Spiritual Reflections. Pastor Dale McIntire has served as pastor of the Cornerstone Community Church in Grand Marais since April of 1995.
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