When you’re trying to get somewhere, you want all green lights, right? Give me the go, and let me get there fast. Oh you feel like God is really on your side when every light turns green for you. Ohhhh, look at me moving forward with favor. Ohhhhh girl, the Lord must be delighting in me. Look at every light turning green for me right on time.

But what about the times when you see yellow on your approach? You know that light is turning red and you’re too late to make it. You reluctantly hit the brakes, and you sit there and you wait. Frustrated. Going nowhere. Being held back. Denied entry. Delayed. Finally you get to move forward again, and wouldn’t you know it, the next light is red. And the next one. You can’t seem to make any progress because every single thing is working against you.

So, which one is walking in the favor of God? Which one is a result of the direction of the Almighty?

What if I could prove BOTH are the favor of God? What if I could prove to you that your series of red lights is just as much under the direction of the Almighty as your series of green lights?

If I could prove it to you, would you calm the heck down and enjoy the ride a little more?

Girl, you are not enjoying this ride. You’re in such a rush to get to where it is you think you’re going, but as soon as you get there, you will be rushing to what’s next. There’s no joy in this. And guess what … this is the only ride you get. You get one shot at this journey through life. If you’re rushing for green lights, and hating on every red light, you’re missing the joy of the journey.

Imagine if every light were green. We all get green lights all the time. What would happen? Massive pileup! Disaster! You think all green lights would get you there faster, but the truth is, all green lights wouldn’t get you there at all. Red lights protect you from head on collisions you would have never seen coming.

What’s God trying to tell us this morning? Stop hating on this red light you’re sitting stuck at. This isn’t a punishment. This is divine direction and providential protection.

Psalm 37:23 “The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.”

Girl, if God is going to direct your steps, he’s also going to direct your stops. Your light is going to turn red, and you’re going to have to stop here, and this journey will go a whole lot smoother if you can learn to trust the stops instead of fight them.

Have you ever ridden with one of those hasty drivers who refuses to sit at a red light? They’re cutting through parking lots and back roads, all in an effort to never have to stop. I was once one of those drivers. Really, I was, but it was only in my Grandma’s 1985 blue Chevy Cavalier. Grandma’s car had a little issue. After driving on the highway for an extended amount of time, the engine would die at the first stop, and getting that puppy started again wasn’t easy. As a teenager, taking my grandma to the big city of Springfield, Missouri for her doctor’s appointments, sitting at a stop light with a stalled out car was the most embarrassing thing ever. For real Lord, just take me now, I don’t want to see my grandma roll down the window and wave another car past us.

So, I got smart. I strategically planned my escape route. If the first light off the highway was red, I would cut through the gas station, gun it through the other parking lots, and cut back in on the road. Don’t stop, and the engine kept running. About the third time I tried that little trick I nearly lost the bottom side of that little Cavalier and Granny wasn’t happy with me.

Then I learned another secret. I could stop, but I would use my left foot for the brake and keep my right foot on the gas revving that engine. Again, success. It didn’t die. It wasn’t the smoothest of rides, and I’m sure I looked like a raging lunatic, but I got us there.

Sometimes, it feels like we’re going through life like that. We never step off the gas. We’re left foot braking, we’re whipping through parking lots and jumping curbs. But Lord, we don’t want to stop.

But what if God says STOP? What if in his divine wisdom and eternal knowledge, he sees what you do not see and knows what you do not know? And what if a red light is best for you here, over the green light you desire?

Will you try to go around it? Will you keep revving your engine? Or will you just stop? Stop knowing this is for your protection. This delay is actually for the purpose of getting you to your destiny, not detouring you from it.

Hear the Lord as he says to you now, “My daughter, this delay is not a denial. This delay is of my divine direction, leading you to your destiny. Accept this.”

God delights in every detail of your life, Sis. And if you will let him, he will guide you with his Spirit. He will cause lights to turn green, and he will cause lights to turn red. Both are for you, and neither are against you. He will open some doors, and close other doors. Again, both are for you, and neither are against you.

How is God going to get you on down to the 7th door on the right if every door on both sides is open along the way? Girl, you’re going to be wasting all the precious days of this one short life you have, wandering into rooms you have no business in. So yes, closed doors are a blessing. Just as much, if not more, than open doors. They get you on down the hallway to the good plans God has for your life.

And did you know God brings closed doors and red lights on good intentions and seemingly awesome plans? Sure does. Check this out, Acts 16:6 “Next Paul and Silas traveled through the area of (fri-gee-uh) Phrygia and Galatia, because the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time.”

Paul and Silas were trying to go preach God’s word. That’s a good thing. How could that ever be bad? But this says the Holy Spirit literally prevented them from going there, so they had to travel somewhere else. I bet that didn’t make a lick of sense to them at that time. Lord, I’m trying to do a good thing here and I feel like you’re just closing every door.

Yip, he was. God was closing that door, all while Paul and Silas were just trying to go preach there. Why? Because God wanted them somewhere else.

What would we do with that red light? Would we start cutting through gas stations and parking lots to get around the stop? Would we be sitting there left footing the brake, revving the engine with our right foot, fully planning on peeling out of there the second we can? Or can we just calm the heck down and say, “The Lord directs my steps, and that means he also directs my stops. If God is preventing me from doing something, I’m going to be A-Okay with that!”

Maybe right now you’re frustrated over the very thing the Holy Spirit has been preventing in your life. Maybe you’ve missed the fact that this red light is just as much God’s power moving on your behalf as the last 5 green lights.

Can we just agree, this doesn’t make sense, but we’re not here to understand God, we’re here to follow him and serve him. And the next red light, the next closed door, the next no when we really wanted yes, we’re going to say “the Holy Spirit prevented that for a good reason.”

What reason? No clue. And it doesn’t matter when we’re trusting God with every detail of our life!

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