A few weeks back I was driving home from a long-winded afternoon of errand running with my then four-month-old. Looking back now, I had kept this child out and about for entirely too long. We were both starving and creeping dangerously close to bedtime, and he was making sure I knew it.
At the time, we were living just outside of Nashville, Tennessee, so you can only imagine the 5 o’clock traffic working against me. And the scene inside the car wasn’t much less chaotic, if at all. My sweet, tiny baby boy in the back was letting his mama have it. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard a baby that small screaming at such a pitch.
As I made my way onto the highway, I attempted to level with my infant.
“Buddy, we are almost home. I promise you I’m going to feed you. You’ve just got to trust mommy, okay? I know where we’re going. I can see our exit. We’re almost there. Just trust mommy.”
It was in that moment as those last few words contended with the screams of a hungry baby for space in my vehicle that I felt the presence of the Lord as thick as I ever had.
He spoke to my heart:
“Do you hear yourself? My sweet girl. Do you know how many times I’ve tried to talk over your screaming and crying?
“Don’t you know I know where I’m taking you? I can see up ahead. I know what’s coming. You’ve just got to trust me.”
My mind went immediately to Psalm 119 as if He had held my hand and led me there. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
If we could see the path, we wouldn’t need a lamp.
If we could see what was coming, we would not be desperately in need of Jesus.
My mind was led again to Jesus talking to the disciples in John 13:7 as he washed their feet. What I am doing you don’t understand now, but one day you will.
The truth is, often if not most of the time we don’t know what the Lord is doing. Why do some things have to hurt? Why is the answer sometimes no? Why, why, why?
If you are anything like me, sometimes my “Why?” turns into kicking and screaming in the backseat. Panic. When all the while we are drowning out the precious voice of our heavenly Father.
And so, a challenge for you and for me today as we merge onto the highways of life. May we be quick to remember who’s doing the driving and trust that He knows exactly where you’re going. You’re almost home.
