by Dr. John Hunter Torchbearers' Fellowship, England
TRAFFIC CHAOS
Moses. They wandered through the wilderness to reach their promised home of Canaan. It was a land of milk and honey, full of blessing and good things. But they had no king. There was no one to tell them what was right so everyone made his own decisions. There was no one who was the human sovereign. It wasn’t just a question of wickedness, but often of people trying to do what was right. This was the same way with the traffic. People will only find chaos if they make up the rules as they go along. In too many cases this is what happens in some Christian lives. The person may be honestly saved, deter mined to do what is right, when sud denly he discovers someone else cut ting across his ways. Somebody has to be wrong. If there had been a king in Israel at this time, every man would not have done that which was right of his own accord. He would have asked, “What does the king say?” This would be the final authority. As I counsel with people, I observe Chris tians who have a Saviour, but who are not willing to give up their own rights for those of the Saviour. This is what the title Lord means. It is not a term of affection but rather one of kingship and ownership. We have no right to do what we think is proper, but only that which is pleasing to Christ. The whole point is this, “What does my Lord say?” If you want to get out of the traffic snarl in your Christian life, and into the place where there is a peace and blessing, you must give up that which you think is right for that which God says is the rule to follow. I should be saying, “What sayest my Lord unto His servant?” Are you listening for the Lord? Will you obey
A nyone who does much travelling on freeways and expressways will rightly feel he knows something about that which this title implies. Frankly, however, and I’ve been all over the world, drivers in America are some of the best to be found any where! Maybe this is because your police are on the job for I find a sense of holding back. In England, where I come from, the driving is really offensive. No one will give an inch. Real traffic chaos is what I’ve seen in countries such as Taiwan, Viet Nam and Ethiopia. I’m not be ing critical. It’s simply a realization that civilization has come remarkably quickly in the method of transport. In Taiwan, as an example, the main streets carry a great variety of vehicles. The police there only walk. They are stationed at the lights, trying to stop violators. There’s no one to bring any chal lenge on the highways. This remind ed me of a verse in the Bible, “Every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” In Judges 17:6 I find the penetrating words, “In those days, there was no king in Israel.” Notice that it isn’t that every one did that which was wrong in his own eyes. Rather he did that which was right in his own eyes. This is what the traffic chaos seemed to me. Any of the motorists would tell you that he was right; the other fellow was wrong. Most courts have seen very few people who are ready to admit their guilt. The other person is al ways wrong. I saw the same thing in Viet Nam. If you know your Bible, you real ize two things about the Old Testa ment. God’s people had been slaves in Egypt, but they had been re deemed by God under the hand of 14
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