Red Light, Green Light

I loved to play Red Light, Green Light when I was a kid. You know the game...you can only run when "it" has her back turned.

In studying the life of Moses this year, I'm struck by God's guidance of the Israelites while in the desert. God's presence, or Shekinah Glory, went before the Israelites everywhere they went. But after the golden calf episode, God had apparently had enough of the Israelites idolatrous hearts. He told Moses that he would send an angel with them, but that He Himself would not go. Then Moses said to him, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. (Exodus 33:15) Moses would not take another step if the Lord wasn't going to go before him.

Right now, I feel a bit like Moses. We are ready in our hearts to proceed with our next adoption, and have been for almost a year, but we don't have the peace in our hearts that God is going ahead of us and giving us His green light.

The Israelites had a visible sign to know when to proceed and when to stay still. In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted. So the cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel during all their travels. (Exodus 40:36-38)

I kind of wish it were that easy for us. We don't want to run ahead of God, but we are so ready to move on with our family. I thought we learned how to wait on the Lord while we were waiting for Dayna. It seems that lesson is never quite mastered.

So we sit at this red light, with our foot poised on the gas, ready to proceed when God says "Go!"