Red Light, Green Light.

Following Jesus can feel a lot like the childhood game Red Light Green Light. Albeit, thankfully not like the version from the Netflix show Squid Game where if you move after red light is called out its lights out for you. As of late following Jesus has felt like a jerky ride of green lights and red lights in a rapid-fire.

Go!

Stop!

Go. Stop!

Now Go, wait stop!

It’s left me with spiritual whiplash. This morning I read these two passages.

Psalm 5:3
O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.

Matthew 4:19–20
And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him.

The Psalmist seems to be saying stop. In the morning he offers his sacrifice to only then watch… but watch for what? I assume to watch and see what the Lord would do next.

Matthew’s passage seems to be saying go. Jesus says, “Follow me” only to have his soon to be disciples immediately drop their nets to follow him.

Stop. Go. Stop. Go.

Well, God which one is it?

As I sat with these passages this morning I started to wonder if I have been thinking about following Jesus with the wrong metaphor. I don’t think following Jesus is meant to be like a mathematically laid out system of stoplights that are set to timers and programmed around data points of traffic patterns.

As much as I would like this to be the case, I just don’t think that is how it is meant to be. Unfortunately, I don’t have a better metaphor yet. But this is what I am taking away from these passages.

In each of these passages, we see real humans, not cold metal traffic lights, interacting with The Divine.

The Psalmist wakes up in the morning and prepares a sacrifice to the Lord. Then he sits and watches. If you go on to read the next few verses the Psalmist reminds himself of what God’s character is like. In his watching and waiting he is still active in his worship of Yahweh.

In Matthew’s account of God interacting with his creatures, we see God, that is Jesus, speak a command that demands a response. The fishermen go. They leave everything to follow him. They didn’t realize it, but they were about to embark on an adventure they could have never dreamt of.

As I head into 2022 my intention for the year is to follow Jesus more closely. That’s it. I want to listen for when he says stop. When he says watch. When he says wait. I want to be ok in the stopping and the watching and the waiting. I don’t have to always be going.

On the other hand, I also want to hear when Jesus clearly says go. And when he does say go, I hope to be obedient like the first disciples were. I want to have the faith and confidence in Jesus to drop my nets and trust Jesus with my entire life, not just Sunday morning.

As cliché as it may sound, following Jesus seems to be more like letting the seasons come and go in their own time. Sometimes winter sticks around a little longer than we’d like. But that makes Spring and summer so much sweeter.

So, what season are you in? What does it look like for you to lean into this season and simply trust that God is active and moving even when you can’t see it or feel it? May we all be more present to The Divine in 2022.

Grace and peace till we rise in glory.