Traveling Billboard
We were driving home through Atlanta traffic after a fun afternoon of play with our grandson. Ed drove while I gripped the door handle, barely peeking at the traffic. Only occasionally would I dare to move my eyes from the traffic app on my phone. The map of I-85 was lit up fully red like a Christmas display. I knew this wasn’t going to be over anytime soon. All of my focus was on the traffic situation and hoping Ed would drive us safely through it all.
And then Ed pointed it out and said, “Look, that is interesting!”
Of course I quickly peeked away from the phone and into the traffic and there it was plastered on the back of the small black car in the lane beside us. The bumper sticker simply read:
PSALM 27
Nothing more, just PSALM 27. It moved from the right lane to directly in front of us. Now I was no longer staring at the traffic situation; no longer gripped by fear of death; no longer praying that Ed would not wreck. Full attention was on this moving billboard in front of our eyes, as if it were guiding us through the traffic.
Ed found it to be very interesting but he didn’t know Psalm 27. We both wondered why the driver had stuck it on his car. The passage was quite familiar to me, because my friend Kim Stanley had taught it well. She bases her “One Thing” ministry on this very chapter. (You can check it out here.)
4 One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.
Early the following morning the image of the car darted in front of me again. There it was stuck like a traffic gridlock in my thoughts. I knew I had to move beyond the acknowledgement of the familiar passage and seek out what it was that God meant in this traveling billboard.
God meets us in the everyday...
...ordinary and practical of life to speak to us, but we have to tune in and listen.
As I flipped the pages of my Bible to Psalm 27, excitement built because I knew He was about to speak. Hope rose up within me as I read his word, for He was giving us guidance just as he led the Israelites with the cloud by day and the fire by night.
He spoke to our fear that far exceeded traffic:
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold[a] of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
He spoke to our fear of anyone or anything coming against us:
When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall.
3 Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet[b] I will be confident.
He called us to fix our eyes on Him, and make Him our “One Thing”:
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire[c] in his temple.
Confidence arose that in the midst of all of our troubles He will:
For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock.
He lifted our eyes from the traffic jam of life, and called us to rejoice:
And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord.
He told us that He hears us and will answer us:
7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! 8 You have said, “Seek[d] my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.”[e]
He clears paths and shows the way:
Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies.
He encouraged our hearts to believe, wait, be strong and, take courage:
I believe that I shall look[f] upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! 14 Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!
I pray that you will see the billboard that God sends your way.
You may feel gridlocked with no way out, but He comes to your rescue. Seek Him and He will be found.