If you haven’t noticed, there’s a concerted effort to
convince everyone to wear seatbelts. Studies have shown people that drive or
ride in cars without seatbelts fastened have a much higher risk of serious
injury or death in an accident. Some states have even waxed poetic, warning
drivers to “Click It or Ticket.”
When I was a kid, no one knew anything about seatbelts. It’s
a wonder any of us lived to tell about it. You just got in the front or back seat and
your parents instructed you to “sit still!” The danger, in our minds, was discipline
from mom or dad, not forward momentum in the event of a sudden stop.
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| With childlike faith, toddlers submit to car seat and seatbelts. |
Today, however, we’re wiser and most of us “click it.” We’ve
heard and accepted the safety message. Engineers have even performed great
feats in designing car seats for infants and toddlers to protect them from
highway mayhem. Most of the time kids don’t argue about being buckled in, although
they usually don’t know where they’re going or why, or how long it will take to
get there.
Trustingly they endure the seatbelt restraints and relax in
their places, except for the occasional “Are we there yet?” To which the astute
mom or dad replies, “No, we’re not there yet. If we were, would we still be
in the car?”
We don’t give it much thought, but submitting to car seat
and seatbelt without question is an act of faith for young ones. How do they
know they’re not being taken to the zoo, to be fed to the lions? Or to a
restaurant that serves only chicken livers and Brussels sprouts? With trusting
hearts they ride along, staring at the backs of their parents’ heads or
observing the passing scenery, awaiting arrival at who knows where – or when.
We’re now in the first week of 2014, and while we don’t feel
seatbelts surrounding us as we proceed into the year, we suspect we’re in for
quite a ride. We don’t know where we’re going or what things will be like when
we get there. All we know for certain is we’re on our way.
One of the advantages of having faith in God is even though we’re
as uncertain about the future as anyone else, we have confidence our “tour
guide” knows where we’re going and won’t let us get lost. “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps”
(Proverbs 16:9).
People wary of what lies ahead are sometimes described as
“sheepish,” and there couldn’t be a more appropriate term. In Psalm 23, a
passage familiar to many of us, we find the metaphor of a shepherd leading his
sheep. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet
waters…. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sale. Even
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,
for you (the Lord) are with me.”
Envision a toddler fastened in a child-restraining carrier
in the back seat, trusting mom or dad – whoever’s driving – to safely transport
her to the destination. She’ll probably even nap along the way, and when the
route gets dark or the road gets a little slick, she’s still trusting the
proper care will be taken to keep her safe.
How can the child know for sure mom and dad will always
provide protection and exercise caution? She can’t, except for the eyes and heart of
childlike faith. And that’s exactly what God expects of us. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not
receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it” (Mark 10:15).
Children have such a simple, sincere faith; somehow we seem
to lose that as adults, insisting the why’s and what’s and wherefore’s be fully
explained. God doesn’t demand blind, unreasoning faith as we travel along life’s
journey. At the same time, however, it’s like he’s saying, “I can’t explain everything
to you. Even if I tried, you wouldn’t understand it. So just trust me.”
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