Heeding the Road Signs of Life

Yesterday, I had the privilege of attending a ladies' Bible study at the international church where I live. I cannot often make it to these events. My ministry with a children's home and home schooling my daughter make that study something I cannot do on a regular basis.

I attended yesterday because one of the ladies was being baptized after the study. The ladies were finishing up the last session of a Beth Moore study called Stepping Up. I cannot begin to share everything I learned from this session, I will will share the part that especially captured my attention.

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In Jeremiah 31:21a we read:

Set up for yourself roadmarks,
Place for yourself guideposts;
Direct your mind to the highway,
The way by which you went.
(NASB)

Beth Moore asked us to consider the role of road signs we encounter in our life journey. SOme road signs we set up ourselves to help other people who come after us along the way.

However, there are road signs already there to help us in our journey. Beth asked us to consider three common road signs we see on a journey. What are they? I'd like to share my own "take-away" from this lesson.
 

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• Sometimes, we all have attitudes that are less than mature and godly. Perhaps we gripe and complain, whinge and whine (in a grown-up way, of course...ahem) about how unfair something is, or how we aren't getting what we want. 

We could be moving on in our journey with God, but we won't, because we insist on our own way first. You know how it goes. "I can't (translate "won't) do this until so-and-so does that." Am I the only one who has ever done this? I suspect not.

It is at times like these that we meet up with one of God's big old stop signs along the road. As Beth Moore put it, it is as if God gets right down there and looks us straight in the eye and says, "STOP IT!" Whatever we were whinging and whining about, we need to let it go. We cannot move on in our journey if we ignore this kind of a stop sign.
  

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• The next sign is the Yield sign. This sign reminds us to submit to God's plans for us. This may mean laying down hopes and dreams that we have long cherished, a ministry that we love, or a relationship that we wanted to hang on to, even though it wasn't good for us.

I have been through a number of significant Yield moments in my life when I resisted letting go of the safe and secure in order to step out in the direction God was calling me. I am sure I will face these moments again.

An important point Beth made is that unless we let go of the things that encumber us, we will not be able to move ahead. The thing we need to let go of may not be a bad thing. In fact it may be very good. But if it is more than what God has for us to carry, we will be burdened. 

For Beth, this meant giving up teaching a Sunday School class. I can't even begin to name all the things this has meant for me. We'd be here until New Years' Day at least. What would this look like for you?

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• Finally, we come to the Caution sign. We know we''ve run across one of these when we spend time with God and deep in our hearts, He points out something to us and says, "Danger!" This may be a message on behalf of our children, our spouse, our friend, our church... ourselves. 

When we realize that God has given us a caution sign, we'd better heed it. The sign is there for a reason. 



We need to take careful notice of the road signs along our journey. We ignore these signs at our own peril if we are on a journey in the car. When we ignore God's road signs, we can expect things to not go well. If we heed them, we can journey in security and peace with Him!

What road signs is God showing you? What ones has He shown you in the past? Whether you heeded them or not, I am sure the experience taught you something. Why not take a moment to share what God taught you in a comment below.