My road trip to take my son, Jack, to college at Mississippi State University, has gone smoothly. Except for Birmingham. As we cruised around the Interstate 459 bypass, I saw the ominous signs ahead: lots of brake lights getting closer and closer. And then we were in it. A traffic jam. Wall to wall vehicles creeping along and sometimes at a complete standstill.
Since we were getting nowhere fast, my mind began to wander. Down one of those mental paths, I began to ponder how a traffic jam is a wonderful analogy for many of the trials and tribulations of life. How so? Well, here are some of my scattered thoughts. Remember, I was in a traffic jam; I had to keep at least part of my mind on the road.
You rarely know when or where a traffic jam is going to happen. Now I know technology can sometimes give us a bit of a heads up. But, in general, you don’t know it’s there until it is already upon you. Same with trials. Most often, life is moving along just fine and then WHAM! You are in a mess you didn’t see coming and had no way to prepare for.
You might never know what caused a traffic jam. Now, in Birmingham, we did know. Take a major three lane interstate and take it down to one lane and you have a perfect recipe for a traffic jam. But often, you might never know. One of the reasons I hated driving in Houston was I would sit through a traffic jam and when it resolved, I had no clue why traffic had slowed to a crawl. With trials, sometimes we can figure out why they happened (usually only in hindsight) but there are times you can’t and will never know.
You have no clue how long a traffic jam may last. This includes time and distance. The GPS on my phone initially said 41 minutes. Then it said 35. Then 20. Then 27. Then back to 35. And on it went. The final, actual time was well over an hour. And on the map, it looked like a long stretch but ended up being less than two miles. This is often the hardest part of trials. When we enter into them, we don’t know how long they could last. Days? Weeks? Months? Years? And that uncertainty only adds to the fear and frustration that comes with trials. How long, O Lord? I am at the end of my rope and not sure I can endure another minute. Many of us know those thoughts and feelings when trials go on and on and on and on, with no end in sight.
Often the only way to handle a traffic jam is to move through it. Sometimes, there might be an exit you can use or an alternative route you can take to get out of the traffic jam. Sometimes not. In our two-mile stretch, there was one exit and it would not get us to our destination. Over and over again, I got to hear the sweet-sounding voice from my phone say, “Traffic ahead. You are still on the best route”. Really?!? This is the best option open to me? Likewise with trials. Sometimes, God provides an exit that leads us out of the trial. And then there are times when we are called to put one foot in front of the other and patiently endure until the trial resolves. Breathe in. Breathe out. Repeat.
Saints, the good news in the midst of the traffic jams and trials is that both are in the hands of our sovereign and good King. And of even greater comfort is knowing that He is present with us in those places. As Psalm 23 reminds us, even when we are in the worst “traffic jam” of life, the valley of the shadow of death, we need not fear because He is with us. And because we are His, we have confidence that He will take even the worst jams and trials of life and transform them into good for us (Romans 8:28). And this is why we can count traffic jams and trials as joy (James 1:2) because we know they are not random, out of control events and situations. Instead, they all bow to the rule of King Jesus and they can go no further nor last any longer nor exert any more power over us than He ordains. In traffic jams and trials, let us feed our souls on the gospel of our Savior that we might be nourished and strengthened to face whatever traffic jams come our way.
