The Ride

Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God, you who have done great things. Who, O God, is like you? Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter,
you will restore my life again….Psalm 71:19-20

     “What if I was on a plane with someone, and it was their time to die?” My boss posed this question one day, half-joking, half-serious. “I don’t think it’s fair that, just because it’s his time, everyone on the plane would have to die.”

     That question reminded me of an old commercial. There was a family on a roller coaster, looking totally frazzled, and when the car arrived back in the unloading zone they were desperately trying to scramble out, but the bar wouldn’t come up and the car began to move forward for another ride. The looks on the faces of the frantic family were wild with panic.

      I remember that commercial, not because of the product it was advertising, but because, at the time it was airing, I completely identified with that family. I felt like my family was trapped on a never-ending roller coaster ride due to someone else’s choices and actions. I was full of self-pity and resentment. I did not want to be on that ride. I thought my children and I did not deserve to be on that ride and I wanted to get off!

     You might be wondering what the question about the plane has to do with that commercial. In both scenarios there is the idea of innocent bystanders being caught up in someone else’s chaos and having to suffer the consequences. That concept strikes us all as a gross injustice.

     But, the truth God has taught me is, if you are on the ride, it is your ride. You cannot be taken on someone else’s ride. You may be riding with others, but each one of you belongs there.

     Would you like to see some scripture I found which backs that up? Proverbs 20:24 says, “A person’s steps are directed by the Lord. How then can anyone understand their own way?” Jeremiah 10:23 states, “Lord, I know that people’s lives are not their own; it is not for them to direct their steps.” Proverbs 19:21 says, “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” There are many other verses but, bottom line, God made it plain to me that wherever I found myself, no matter how it appeared I had gotten there, He had directed my steps to that place and desired to reveal himself to me there.

     He showed me that the problem with considering myself to be an innocent bystander was that it allowed me to stand by, placing the blame for my circumstances on someone else. It kept me in a place of bitterness and excused me from asking the important question, what is God trying to show me, to teach me?

     As I embrace this truth, I am learning that I was never trapped; that blame is pointless and that I can trust the God who is in control of my ride, and any who journey with me.