I AM Right in Front of You

After attending a birthday party Saturday night in Roanoke's Southwest County, we returned home via the Blue Ridge Parkway. Doing so allows us to avoid the stoplights, traffic, and less desirable parts of town that we otherwise would have to drive through to get to our home on the western edge of Bedford County. Riding on the parkway at night is similar to the daytime in that it isn't a heavily traveled road. That is nice because it is always a peaceful drive devoid of traffic. However, it is starkly different than during the day in that it is extremely dark. Unable to see the beautiful scenery the parkway offers in the daylight hours, I find it to be dangerous due to creatures entering the road whenever they please. Deer are famous for crowding the parkway at night, so it is essential that eyes constantly be kept on the road. There are no street lights and very few additional cars to light the way, and it is impossible to see anything clearly past the reach of the automobile's headlights.

If you look ahead a few hundred feet, you will notice the headlights illuminating various signs posted ahead, similar to this photo. The signs glow in the midst of the darkness surrounding them, but they are blurry, and they can't be clearly distinguished or read until they are properly lit. All that the driver and passengers can view along the road is what is precisely in front of the vehicle.

What we experience on a dark parkway at night is similar to how life can be, and how we should respond to the hazy, slightly-lit-far-ahead-signs in our future. Just as the car only lights what is right in front of us, in Psalm 119:105, God's Word is described as a "lamp for my feet, a light on my path." The Bible does not say that God provides a giant strobe light giving us answers for everything that is far, far ahead. Instead, He provides just enough light - - just enough truth - - to show us where our feet need to walk in that moment. He illuminates the path so our eyes can see only what is necessary for us to see right then.

It can be scary and frustrating - - not being able to see further down the road. Those signs are glowing in the midst of the darkness down there! Wouldn't it be nice if we could just read them all now so we'd know exactly what to expect? Well, if we focus too much on what may harm or help us down the road several hundred feet, we may miss the danger - - or even the beauty - - that is along the path God is lighting for us right here and right now. 

I believe that is one reason why God described Himself to Moses as "I AM." As Moses was preparing to rescue the Israelites from the hands of the Egyptians, he asked the Lord who he should say gave him the authority. "God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM." This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'" Exodus 3:14. The people were living in such an inhumane environment, struggling every single day just to survive as slaves. They needed the assurance of God's current sustaining presence.

God could have easily told Moses to say, "tell them I am the God who will do amazing things in your future, rescue you from the hands of the Pharaoh, part the Red Sea, kill your enemies, and bring you to a land flowing with milk and honey." Those words may have offered limited comfort to the Israelites, but considering they were struggling to eat, drink, and stay alive due to the harsh conditions they suffered, they most likely would've rolled their eyes at him and said, "yeah right, I need water NOW."

Also, if God had told them about their future, He would've also had to include the difficult things they were about to endure. True, the Israelites did escape captivity. They did see Pharoah's army swallowed up by the Red Sea after their own families miraculously crossed through it. But before that happened, their workload increased in difficulty. After Moses showed up and demanded their release, Pharoah commanded that the slaves begin collecting their own straw to build the bricks. In essence he punished them the second Moses arrived, and it didn't stop there. Quotas for what was expected of them didn't lesson, even as their toil grew harder. Multiple plagues crossed the land they inhabited. If God were to shine a strobe light on all the details of our future, I am not really sure we would have the strength to keep going. There is enough trouble right where we are, in today. That is why He only lights our feet along the path.

Similarly, God could have said to Moses, "tell them I am the God who provided for your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Believe in me because of what I have done in the past for your people. That should give you faith." Looking to what God has done for you in the past is a helpful reminder, but it usually isn't enough to strengthen us during present troubles.

God didn't tell Moses He is the God that was or the God that will be. Instead, he told Moses to tell them, "I AM has sent me to you." Those people needed to feel God with them in the NOW. And so do we. Knowing that Christ is fully present in what we are dealing with NOW gives us the strength to keep driving down the dark road. So often we dwell on our past mistakes, or our fear of the future. Through this Scripture, and experiencing the road only lit right in front of me Saturday night along the parkway, I am inclined to believe that our duty is to recognize that God is the great "I AM," the One who wants us to walk down the path that He promises to light for us, one step at a time. Eventually those glowing signs in the distance will no longer be blurry, because He will bring His light and clarity to all of it.