When my daughter was heading towards her teenage years, she asked if she could move from the back seat of the car and start riding up front. She was legally qualified to make the move (and she had been for a couple of years), so we granted her request. But we did it because we felt she was ready, not simply because she met some general qualifications. It takes a certain maturity to ride…up front.
Once she got up there, she began to see driving from a different perspective, and consequently she asked a lot of questions and offered some unsolicited advice. When you ride up front, you see more of what actually goes into driving a vehicle, and you see more of what is going on around the vehicle. Getting from one place to the next is different when you are riding…up front.
From the back seat she had a limited perspective and world view. Most of what she saw was out the side window, as her view to the front was shielded by seats and parents. Once she began to ride up front, the backseat became a distant memory, or sometimes a place to store her baggage. She became much more aware of the numerous hazards of driving when she began to ride…up front.
When she sat in the back, communication could be a challenge, but once she came up front, she could talk to us face to face. This made for better and more intimate conversations. I must admit, that part I enjoyed about her riding…up front.
Oh how I long in my journey in Christ to ride up front. To see and know everything He is doing, to anticipate the hazards, to inquire why He chose to take me one way as opposed to another, to be close to Him, communicating with Him face to face. I just want to observe how He maneuvers through traffic, understand why He picks the lane I am in, and how He observes the rules of the road as He gets me safely to my destination.
But even in Christ, it takes a certain maturity to ride up front. We can’t bring our backseat perspective and expect it to serve us when we ride up front. No one likes a “backseat driver”, especially if they are sitting up front! We have to realize why it is so important to our safety to let the driver drive. He has the wheel, and is in control of the gear we are in, the accelerator, and the brakes. We really need to be able to sit back, stay out of his line of vision, and let him drive!
God has a plan for our lives. He knows how to get us to our destiny safely, while allowing us the privilege of watching Him as we enjoy the journey. Eventually we will get to ride up front, not because of some arbitrary qualification, but because He believes we are ready…to sit closer, to talk face to face, and to learn exactly how and why He does what He does. God wants us to know how to anticipate danger, how to maneuver through the traffic jams of life, and how to benefit the most from riding with Him…up front.
Everyday God... 