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All of us understand stop and go lights. We are controlled by them daily. Well, God has stop and go lights for us, and we need to recognize and obey them. I want to talk about what happens when we stop when God says go or go when God says stop.
In Numbers 9 we find the Israelites in the desert on their way to the Promised Land, and God had instructed them to build a tabernacle in the Tent of Testimony. This was a sacred place, which was covered with a cloud that looked like fire. Whenever the cloud lifted from above the Tent, the Israelites set out; whenever it settled over the Tent, the Israelites encamped. It was a stop and go cloud.
Sometimes they would stop only for a night’s rest and then continue; the cloud would lift the next morning. And sometimes it would stay for two days or a month—or a year! They never knew; they simply had to look for God’s sign, then obey. Also, I notice God did not give them explanations for the stop and go signs. All they knew was to stop or go.
Therefore, they had to trust God. If they had gone when God said stop, they would have been lost. If they had stopped when God said go, they would have missed out on important progress to the Promised Land.
Now, think, when you’re driving and you decide to go on a stop light, you may run into someone you need to avoid, causing all kinds of relationship problems. You affect your own progress, and that of others as well. Then you can easily get in trouble with the authorities. If a traffic officer sees you, you’re sure to get a ticket.
The same is true in our walk with God when we decide to go before he has given us the green light. We run into trouble of all kinds. If you’re an action-oriented person like I am, this is a lesson you have to learn and re-learn many times. If I’m not moving, then I feel like something must be wrong.
I tend to barrel ahead, looking at the goal line, running in my own strength many times, thinking I’m getting the job done for the Lord. Often, I can find myself going ahead without prayer or guidance. But I’m having to learn when I go on a stop signal, I get in the way of what God wants to do for me and through me. Going on a stop light causes lots of problems.