Speed Bump

Have you ever driven on a section of road that had speed bump built into it? If you see a warning sign, or the bump itself ahead of time, then you slow down a bit and hardly take notice of it. But if there is no sign, or you are looking some other direction and don't see the bump, or perhaps just don't care, and you hit the bump at full speed or faster, you are instantly very aware of its presence. The purpose of the bump is to make you moderate your speed. That may or may not happen but you can’t deny that it showed itself to be there in the middle of the road.

All people hit a variety of bumps as they go through life. Big bumps, that perhaps result in serious damage to our lives. Or little bumps that gain our attention for the briefest period of time. And lots of varieties of bumps between those to ranges.

There are no religious exemptions to the bumps of life. People who love and worship Jesus hit bumps. People who bow down to anything else as their god hit bumps. People who deny and/or disbelieve in the existence of God hit bumps. Everyone hits them at times throughout their life. But the difference is in how we respond when they happen.

This afternoon I was reading something written by Wilhelmus 'a Brakel who said this about the bumps of the Hebrews as they traveled from slavery in Egypt to the land that God had promised would be theirs:

"However, the least mishap caused them to distrust the Lord and to murmur."

Set free from slavery by God himself, and witnesses to repeated miracles that God did to save and guide his people. And yet, repeatedly, they murmured against God the moment things took a wrong turn, from their point-of-view. You can read the story yourself as you read through Exodus.

The very next sentence 'a Brakel writes tells of God's attitude toward the Hebrews, in the presence of their murmuring against him:

 "Nevertheless, the Lord helped them."

The bump never changed the direction of the road they were traveling on. From God's point-of-view the bump was designed to lead them to trust in God's care, rather than to question it.

One of the great blessings of living on this side of history, after the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, is that we see the promises of God to his people with greater clarity. Same God. Same promise to be the God of his people. But the promises being written in such a way that there can be no mistake as to what they mean, like this one from Romans 8:35-39,

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

We all hit bumps in life. Some that are barely noticeable. Some that are bone-jarring, and worse. But the promise of God to hold his children in all things is just that. A promise. Grounded in God's character and received by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. A promise that we never need to doubt.

May the next bump in your life be one that causes you to hang on tightly to the one who is always holding on to you.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.