The Intersection

I could see the blinking lights as I approached the intersection.
The blinking lights were not from emergency vehicles.
It was the traffic lights that were blinking.
One direction was blinking red and the other direction was blinking yellow.

Blinking traffic lights happen from time to time.
Except this intersection is one of the busiest intersections near my home.
It is where two state roads intersect.
It is an intersection that drivers must go through to get anywhere around here.

I was the third car in line as we waited at the light.
There were trucks coming the opposite direction.
The cars were stopped in all directions.
People were deciding what to do.

I watched as the cars tried to act as if the traffic light was functioning.
Some would go through the intersection and then stop as if on cue to let others go.
I watched some congestion as people tried to tail other cars just to get across.
This is an accident waiting to happen, I thought to myself.

I kept thinking that at any moment, I would see a police officer with his lights flashing.
I expected him to get out of his patrol car and direct traffic until the lights were repaired.
That never happened during the time I was at the intersection.
Finally, it was our turn to cross.

I began to pray since it was beginning to look like a free for all.
The order that someone tried to establish quickly disappeared.
One more car would try to get through the intersection.
A bottleneck was forming in the center.

This well traveled four lane highway, with additional turning lanes, was sheer chaos.
Our two lanes of traffic started to go.
As the two cars in front of me began to go forward, a large tractor trailer came towards them.
He was not going fast but it was evident he wanted to go through the intersection.

Our line kept going at a snail’s pace across all the lanes of traffic.
The tractor trailer stopped in the middle of the intersection.
We all kept going very slow until we were safely on the other side.
I looked in my rear view mirror and saw that the tractor trailer slowly went across.

It was a free for all.
It was chaotic.
There was no accident, praise God.
Everyone seemed to take order in their own hands.

We all like to be autonomous, but only in certain circumstances.
A four lane highway with no traffic lights is a dangerous situation.
Everyone going their own way is a life and death scenario.
Even if we balk at waiting at a traffic light for a long time, we know the light is for our safety.

The people served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel…After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. (Judges 2:7,10)

Joshua led the Israelites after the death of Moses.
While Joshua was alive, the people knew the LORD and the great things He had done.
They knew about the LORD because they were taught about Him.
When Joshua and the elders died, no one continued to teach the people.

A whole generation grew up not knowing Him.
Imagine.
That is actually not too hard to imagine.
We are not that far remove from the Israelites in the time of the Judges.

God raised up Judges to lead His people.
The Judges had a specific mission and purpose.
Their primary purpose was to make the LORD known.
According to God’s Word, the Judges failed to do that after Joshua died.

In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit. (Judges 17:6 and 21:25)

Everyone did as he saw fit.
Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
That is what I saw displayed at the intersection.
Everyone going through the intersection whenever they saw fit.

It was frightening.
There was no order.
There was no one in charge.
There was no one leading.

Even if we think that might be fun for a while, it is very disconcerting.
Even if you think going your own way might be fun for a while, it is very unsettling.
It reminded me of a story about a preschool.
The preschool playground had a fence around its perimeter.

Due to some needed repairs, the fence had been taken down one night.
It was to be replaced when the work was completed.
The teachers were curious to see how the children would behave without the fence.
To their surprise, the children stayed within the confines of where the fence had been.

There was no actual fence to keep them in, yet they felt safe within those parameters.
Limits are a good thing.
Whether limits are set by parents or traffic police, we all need them.
They are necessary in order to function.

After the intersection confusion, I saw the resolution in another scenario.
Walking into a store, there was a large tractor trailer delivering merchandise.
A little boy was walking with his father.
The boy was about three years old and was infatuated by the large truck.

The father wanted to walk in one direction but the little boy wanted to walk in another.
The little boy kept turning around to get one more glimpse of the large truck.
The problem was that he was holding up traffic in the parking lot.
People were waiting for this father and son to walk past them.

The little boy wanted to do what he thought was right in his own eyes.
The father clearly took charge.
The father picked the boy up by the shirt and carried him off to safety.
The little boy was not upset or hurt, he was just being moved to safer ground.

The whole time the boy was being carried, he kept pointing to the large truck.
The father was clearly in control.
The father wanted his son to know the rules and know who was in charge.
Those rules, though seemingly unpleasant, were for his son’s good.

Without rules to maintain order, there is chaos.
We have God’s Word that tells us about Him and all He has done for us.
There is no excuse.
No generation should grow up who does not know the Lord or what He has done for us.

If there is a generation who has not heard then it is on us.
There is no excuse.
Everyone doing what is right in their own eyes is a terrible way to live.
It is chaotic and disordered and not the way God intended.

Pull them by the shirt if you have to in order to keep them from eternal chaos.
Doing what is right in your own eyes leads to destruction.
Staying within the confines of the fence of God’s Word is a good thing.
It is a really good thing.