Doug Lansky was a travel writer and photographer for many years during which he has collected photos of odd signs from around the world. Here are some samples:
Here is a blue sign with white letters. It reads: “Pakistan-Narcotics Control Board Investigating Unit.” Notice what’s in front of the sign almost obscuring it – a big bunch of marijuana.
Then there’s this yellow diamond-shaped sign from Mill Valley, California. It says, “Not a Through Street,” but right below it is a blue circle with a white arrow pointing straight ahead with the words, “Evacuation Route.” I sure hope I don’t have to leave this place in a hurry.
Look at this white highway sign in Monroeville, Pennsylvania. It says, “Entrance Only / Do Not Enter.” Now what do I do?
How about these two signs in Loleta, California: “No Parking” & “Park Here.” I wonder: should I stay or should I go?
This one is interesting. A sign in South Lake Tahoe says, “Be Prepared to Stop.” But look at the sign right beyond it: “No Stopping Anytime.”
And finally, at a railroad crossing in Melbourne is this sign: “Emergency Exit.” It’s pointing straight up! I guess if all else fails, heaven is always an option. (Doug Lansky, www.Signspotting.com)
A lot of people are looking for signs to guide them through life, but those signs can be very confusing. Do I stay or go? Do I enter this path or not? Is there a way out if I get in trouble?
There are a lot of questions for which there are no easy answers. So what do you do when you don’t know what to do? How do you make the right choices? How do you choose what’s best among many options?
It was a predicament the Israelites faced after 430 years of slavery in Egypt. For 430 years they had slave-drivers telling them what to do 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Then all of a sudden, in one night, the Israelites were free from Egyptian bondage. And all of a sudden, they had to make decisions for themselves. For the first time in 430 years, they had choices, but choices can be overwhelming to a people not used to making choices.
What is the best choice? Which way do I go? And how do I decide? Are these the kind of questions you have? Then I invite you to turn with me to Exodus 13, Exodus 13, where we find out what to do when we don’t know what to do.
Exodus 13:17-18 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle. (NIV)
They may have gone out of Egypt “armed for battle,” but God knew they were not ready for war. The shortest route to the Promised Land was the military road of the Egyptians, along the Mediterranean Sea, but that was heavily guarded by Egyptian soldiers. Furthermore, the shortest route took them through Philistine territory, but the Philistines were very warlike, and they would not have hesitated to go to war to keep the Israelites out. Israel might have left Egypt feeling strong and mighty, but God knew better, so He led them in the way He knew was best for them – a longer and more difficult way through the desert.
Exodus 13:19 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the sons of Israel swear an oath. He had said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.” (NIV)
Joseph had told them this nearly 400 years previously! But it’s a promise they never forgot, passed down over 40 generations from one generation to another.
Exodus 13:20-22 After leaving Succoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people. (NIV)
God guided them all the way with a pillar of cloud during the day that turned into a pillar of fire at night. All Israel had to do was follow His lead.
Exodus 14:1-4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon. Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’ And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” So the Israelites did this. (NIV)
The Israelites simply followed God. They simply went where He went even though the way was longer, harder, and more confusing. There were times when God actually led them backwards, but they followed anyway.
And let me tell you: that’s the best thing for us to do, as well. When life is confusing (and even when it’s not), our best choice is always to do what Israel did and simply…
FOLLOW GOD.
Go where God leads even though the way is longer. Stay with the Lord even though the way is harder. Listen to Him even though the way is confusing. God knows what’s best for us, and He will NEVER lead us astray, so follow God wherever He leads.
Chuck Swindoll tells the story about a conversation he had with a Christian leader who started a new ministry for the Navigators in Uganda. The man told Swindoll that after much discussion and prayer, he and his wife were convinced that God wanted them to move to Uganda. So they uprooted their family and flew to Kenya, where he put his family up in a hotel so he could rent a Land Rover and travel across the border into Uganda.
The man told Swindoll, “One of the first things that caught my eye when I came into the village where I was going to spend my first night were several young kids with automatic weapons, shooting them off into the sky. As I drove by, they stared at me and pointed their guns.”
Naturally he started to wonder if God was really in their decision. Finally, after a long day exploring Uganda, he pulled up to a dingy, dimly lit hotel. Inside, he went up to the registration counter. The clerk, who spoke only a little English, told him there was one bed available. So he walked up two flights of stairs and opened the door and turned on the light – a naked light bulb hanging over a table. He saw a room with two beds, one unmade and one still made up. He immediately realized, I am sharing this room with somebody else. A chill went down his spine.
The man told Swindoll, “I dropped to my knees, and I said, ‘Lord, look, I’m afraid. I’m in a country I don’t know, in a culture that’s totally unfamiliar. I have no idea who sleeps in that bed. Please, show me that you’re in this move!’”
And then, he said, “Just as I was finishing my prayer, the door flung open, and there stood this six-foot five-inch African frowning at me, saying in beautiful British English, ‘What are you doing in my room?’”
The man said, “I kneeled there for a moment, and then I muttered, ‘They gave me this bed, but I’ll only be here one night.’”
“What are you doing in my country?” the African asked.
The man replied, “Well, I’m with a [Christian] organization called the Navigators.”
“Ahh! The Navigators!” the tall African responded and suddenly broke into an enormous grin, threw his arms around his new roommate, and laughed out loud as he lifted him up off the floor and danced around the room with him.
“Praise God, praise God,” said the African. “For two years I have prayed that God would send someone to me from this organization.” And he pulled out a little Scripture memory-verse pack and pointed to where, at the bottom of each of the verses, it read, “The Navigators, Colorado Springs, Colorado.”
“Are you from Colorado Springs, Colorado?” he asked.
The man said, “I was. But I’m coming to Uganda to begin a work for the Navigators in this country.”
This Ugandan eventually became a board member for the new Navigators ministry in Uganda. He helped the American leader find a place to live, assisted him with the language, and became the Navigator staff member’s best friend. (Chuck Swindoll, Embraced by the Spirit, Zondervan, 2011, pp. 111-114; www.PreachingToday.com)
God still leads His people today. Oh, He may not do it with a pillar of fire anymore, but He leads us through the principles of His Word. He leads us through the advice and council of godly people. He leads us through that still small voice He puts in our hearts.
And even though the way is sometimes long and hard, perhaps even confusing at times, God never leads us astray. All we have to do is stay close to Him. What do you do when you don’t know what to do? 1st, follow God. Then 2nd…
BELIEVE GOD.
Rely on the Lord. Depend on your Heavenly Father to bring you through. That’s what the Israelites learned to do after a very big scare. Look at what happened to them.
Exodus 14:5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!” (NIV)
They had lost 2 to 3 million slaves! And in an economy dependent on slavery, such a loss was devastating – worse than a 50% drop in the stock market.
Exodus 14:6-9 So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him. He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly. The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon. (NIV)
Now, God had Pharaoh and the Egyptian army right where He wanted them, but from Israel’s perspective God’s people were trapped! With a mountain to the north, with a mountain to the south, with the sea to the east, and the Egyptian army bearing down on them from the west through that pass, they had nowhere to go!
Exodus 14:10-12 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” (NIV)
Now, isn’t that typical of God’s people sometimes? When they find themselves in a tough spot, they cry out in fear and blame the preacher. So what does the preacher have to say about all this?
Exodus 14:13-14 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (NIV)
I love the imperatives in these verses: Don’t be afraid; stand firm; see; and be still. That’s the advice Moses gave Israel, and that’s still good advice for us today when we feel trapped with nowhere else to go. Don’t be afraid; just believe in the Lord. Don’t be frantic; just stand firm in Him. Don’t complain; just be quiet and still. Then you will see God do amazing things on your behalf.
In Psalm 46, God simply tells us, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). The problem is very few of us have learned how to “be still.” Instead, we frantically race here and there thinking it all depends on us, but we end up only making things worse. Wouldn’t it be much better just to rest in the Lord and watch Him work?
Marian Liautaud started a business in 2002. She prayed diligently about the decision and sensed God’s confirmation to move forward. She was inexperienced in retail operations, so she depended heavily on God for wisdom and direction. She prayed every step of the way between the time she caught a vision for the venture until the day she opened her doors.
On opening day, customers lined up around the building. Her heart pounded and her palms were sweaty when she became acutely aware that the success or failure of this business rested on her, or so she thought. And for the next four years, she ran the store as if this were true.
Instead of praying for God’s wisdom or listening to the counsel of trusted advisors, including her own husband Dan, she relied on her own understanding. She said, “I simply was too busy and preoccupied to spend time reading my Bible. And when I did make time, I found myself re-reading the same passage over and over and never grasping the words.” Daily preoccupation over her work took the place of daily quiet time with God, and all that had a snowball effect which eventually led to the demise of her business four years later and nearly her marriage.
Looking back on those four years, Marian Liautaud says, “I know now what was at play: apart from Christ, I could do nothing. Instead of remaining in Jesus, as he instructs us to do in John 15:5, I ran on ahead without him.” (Marian V. Liautaud, “Remain in Me,” Christianity Today’s Kyria blog, 12-22-09; www.PreachingToday.com)
She stopped depending on the Lord. She thought it was all up to her and things went downhill from there.
Please, don’t you make the same mistake. Carve out some time every day to be still before the Lord. Carve out some time to read His Word and pray. Carve out some time to quiet your heart before Him. Then, and only then, will you see Him do some amazing things in your life. Don’t depend on yourself; depend on the Lord!
Pegi Tehan of Dayton, Ohio, decided one day to take her three children to an ice skating party in a nearby town. But after several wrong turns and stops to ask directions, she pulled over to the side of the road and suggested they all ask God to help them find the rink. When they finally arrived, they were nearly an hour late. The following week, as they got into the car to go skating again, her five-year-old son exclaimed, “Mom, let’s pray now and save time!” (Pegi Tehan, Dayton, OH, “Heart to Heart,” Today’s Christian Woman; www.PreachingToday.com)
I couldn’t have said it better myself: Let’s pray now and save time!
Don’t tell me, “I don’t have the time to pray.” Because I’ll tell you, “You don’t have the time NOT to pray.” Quit running around, and get on your knees before God. Be still in His presence. Then see the deliverance He brings to you starting today!
What do you do when you don’t know what to do? 1st, follow God even if the way is long and hard. 2nd, believe God, not yourself. And 3rd…
WALK WITH GOD in the direction He tells you to go.
Take that step of faith and do what God is telling you to do. After you have stood by faith, walk by faith in the path God opens up before you. That’s what Israel did.
Exodus 14:15-20 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.” Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long. (NIV)
The Lord, who was their Guide, now became their Guardian.
Exodus 14:21-22 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. (NIV)
God made a way, and Israel walked through on dry ground. He not only sent the wind, but as you can see from the picture, God led them to the only place where there was actually a land bridge just a few feet below the surface of the water.
Exodus 14:23-24 The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. (NIV)
The last watch of the night was sometime between 3 and 6 a.m., the darkest time before the dawn. R. Alan Cole says it was traditionally the time for attack when men’s spirits are at their lowest. And that’s the time God chose to attack the Egyptians.
Exodus 14:25-28 He made the wheels of their chariots come off so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.” Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept them into the sea. The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived. (NIV)
Divers have actually gone down into the sea at this sight and photographed the remains of ancient Egyptian chariots. As God had said, all Egypt now knew that Israel’s God was the LORD, more powerful than any god or man in Egypt itself.
Exodus 14:29-31 But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. And when the Israelites saw the great power the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant. (NIV)
Israel also learned that their God was the LORD, and they put their trust in Him and in the man He had chosen to lead them. What a miracle! But none of it would have happened had they not taken that first step of faith.
And that’s what we must do if we want to see God work on our behalf. We must take that step of faith and do what God is telling us to do. Speak to that friend about the Lord. Go on that missions trip. Give more than you would dare to give.
I don’t know what God is telling you to do; but whatever it is, just do it! He’ll take care of the obstacles. He’ll take care of the enemies, and He’ll see you through. Stand by faith, and then step by faith in the direction God is calling you to go.
Just last year (2011), CNN ran a report on how Jackie Robinson became the first black player to play on a major league baseball team. He debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947, but not without a lot of faith and courage on the part of the Dodgers executive who signed Jackie Robinson.
That executive was Branch Rickey, whose pastor was Wendell Fifield from the Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims in Brooklyn. The church had a history of working with the “underground railroad” to help free slaves. So while Rickey was trying to decide if he should sign Jackie Robinson, he paid a visit to Rev. Fifield. He barged into the pastor’s study and told Fifield, “Don’t let me interrupt. I just want to be here. Do you mind?”
The two men passed the time without words. The pastor continued his work and Rickey energetically paced the floor, stopping occasionally to look out the pastor’s window. For forty-five minutes he continued pacing, pausing, pacing, and then pausing. Finally, Rickey broke the silence by pounding his fist on the pastor’s desk as he shouted, “I’ve got it!”
“Got what, Branch?” pastor Wendell Fifield asked.
That’s when Rickey finally relaxed on a chair and told his pastor, “This was so complex, fraught with so many pitfalls but filled with so much good, if it was right, that I just had to work it out in this room with you. I had to talk to God about it and be sure what he wanted me to do. I hope you don’t mind.”
Then he said, “Wendell, I’ve decided to sign Jackie Robinson.” After which Rickey straightened his bow tie, put on his hat, and left the room. A well-known journalist warned Rickey that “all hell would break loose” when Robinson took the field, but Rickey quietly countered, “I believe all heaven will rejoice.” (Jamie Crawford, How church helped sign Jackie Robinson to Brooklyn Dodgers, CNN, 4-14-11; www.PreachingToday.com)
After we have waited on the Lord, then it’s time to walk with the Lord in the direction He leads. Like Rickey did, straighten your tie (so to speak), put on your hat, and go do what God told you to do.
When life gets complicated, make it simple. Just follow God, believe God, and walk with God in the direction He leads.
I close with this prayer from Sir Paul Reeves:
God, grant me
To be silent before you – that I may hear you;
At rest in you – that you may work in me;
Open to you – that you may enter;
Empty before you – that you may fill me.
Let me be still and know you are my God. Amen.
(Sir Paul Reeves in a prayer at the WCC Seventh Assembly in Canberra, Australia, Christianity Today, Vol. 35, no. 11; www.PreachingToday.com)
