Brenda’s Blog – April 7, 2015
“When the Light is Flashing, Help is on the Way.”
There is not much to do while standing in an empty elevator by yourself except read the instrument panel. The emergency button always draws my attention. This language particularly intrigued me.
Wouldn’t it be nice if God gave us a pulsating red sign of His presence and His aid? In times of great distress (even self-defined emergencies), we suddenly feel silence and aloneness. Philip Yancey wrote the classic, “Where Is God When It Hurts?” This universal question has no cultural or linguistic barriers. David, the Psalmist, agonized about the quiet times. He cried out from caves, courts, and chaos pleading for the Lord to show Himself.
Christians root in the belief that He is the God who is there, as Frances Schaeffer wrote. We do not serve a wooden idol, made by men’s hands. We have a transcendental, external God who is all-powerful, all-knowing, and ever present.
So what do we do in those moments when the path seems dark and the voice doesn’t come instructing or even comforting? We do exactly what passengers on a stranded elevator do… sound the alarm, trust the message, and wait. We know He will never leave us nor forsake us. We may not have a flashing light, but we live in the light of His Word.
Dr. W.A. Criswell eloquently preached his theme of the “scarlet thread” which he followed from Genesis to Revelation. This thread is Jesus. And truly, the message in the Old Testament is “Help is on the way.” The New Testament assures us that “Help came in the flesh.” And joyfully, as we stand in the elevator today we see the scarlet thread and its message: “Help is coming again.”
In the times when heaven seems closed up and confusion controls, let’s stop and remember – the flashing light is Jesus and help is with us, not just merely on the way.