Are you your own red light?

Just a quick thought on something I have been noticing lately:

I do not think it is a coincidence that about 90% of the time, when pulling up to a stop light, I get the green light right away. I also do not believe this is some special gifting I have or a magic force that is with me. I believe it is because I am intentional with how I stop.

Once I started noticing my ability to get green lights, I started to observe the behaviors of other people, to try and get an understanding on why I always get so "lucky." I see cars sitting and waiting for several minutes. They are probably in a hurry to get somewhere and are thinking they have all the bad luck. I'm sure they sit there asking "Why am I stuck waiting again?"

What I learned, through observation, is that the majority of those cars waiting an extra amount of time at the light have not pulled all the way up to the stop line. They are waiting for their permission to move forward but haven't pulled up far enough to register that they are there. I assume that they are just trying to be careful and cautious to not pull up too far, avoiding risk of injury or punishment. The problem is, the line is painted on the road as a guide to help drivers know where they need to be if they want a turn to proceed, but they are not approaching the line with confidence. Or for some, they are simply not paying enough attention to notice where they are in relation to the line.

I feel that I get green lights because I pull up all the way. I am intentional about where I place my car, knowing that position does play a part in how long I have to wait.

Do you ever feel like you are sitting at a red light in your life? You are waiting for progress to happen, some kind of forward momentum, but you are just sitting there? You may need to get more intentional about where you are placing yourself.

God is waiting for us to come to Him and to communicate with Him. Phillipians 4:6 says to "....make your requests known to God," just the same as our car needs to put in a "request" to the light. However,there will be an aweful lot of waiting around if we assume we will get a green light just because we are in the proximity of the line. The definition of sin is missing the mark. Isaiah 59:1 and 2 says that our sin gets in our way of God being able to hear us when we pray. There is a break in the communication because we have settled for proximity rather than precision. We must be on the "line", hitting the mark, for God to hear our requests and grant the momentum we so deeply desire.


Are you your own red light? Is there something in your life that is distracting you from pulling all the way up? Perhaps you are like many people who just stopped paying attention to your positon. You might need to take a look at where you are. It's time to start being aware of what we are doing and being intentional about how we make our approach. There are times it might feel like we are waiting way too long for God to give us a green light, but we only have a red because we have not positioned ourselves where our request can be heard. Proximity is not good enough. Strive for precision.