Traffic Jams

Patience is a virtue.

 

Apparently.

 

I found myself in a traffic jam today - a completely solid-not-at-all-moving traffic jam.  And the most annoying thing was that I was less than a quarter of a mile from my destination.

 

We all sat still for about 5 minutes with absolutely no movement and then the driver of the car behind me got out to see what was going on.  He got back in and shrugged his shoulders.  We were all stuck, but we didn't know why.

 

Luckily, I had stopped at a crossroads.  So, rather than wait in the jam, I took a turning down a side road and thought that I could get around the problem.

 

I beetled down the side road, but as soon as I got to the end, I met another jam - there seemed to have been an accident which was causing congestion all around the area.

 

I am one of those people who hates to stay still when they are stuck in traffic.  I would far rather drive further out and travel around the problem, looking for alternatives, instead of just sitting still and waiting.

 

I don't like just being still and waiting for something to happen.

 

I think it's because I don't like feeling powerless.

 

And I have the same approach to situations in life too: I don't like waiting for things to happen.  I don't like being still.  I like to be active and in control.

 

The Bible says,

"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him."

[Psalm 37:7 NIV]

 

I tend to interpret this verse as "Keep busy and active and search for alternative routes/solutions, just in case the Lord doesn't pull through in time."

 

I take my traffic-jam mentality and apply this to waiting for situations to resolve, or for God to answer prayers or 'show up'.

 

I don't wait and I certainly don't wait patiently.

 

But in all the busyness, in all the time that I am driving around frantically searching for alternative routes, I never get there any faster and I usually get worked up if I don't seem to be getting anywhere.  Maybe I'm missing the point: maybe God tells us to be quiet and to wait patiently for Him, because He has a solution and an answer and we won't get there any faster by searching for alternative routes.

 

Maybe the point of being still and quiet is so that we don't get stressed out or worked up and we can relax, instead, because it's all in His hands.