This way, that way?

A rural road about thirty miles away has more kinks that a snake with a tummy ache.  Directional signs abound to warn drivers of tight curves. One is such a hairpin that it merits two signs, pointing at each other.  The right one warns drivers coming up, the left ones, drivers going down. I always smile when I see the two seemingly contradictory arrows.

I wonder if the signs might symbolize something far more serious in spiritual terms. Jesus declared that He was the one-way-only sign:  “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Problem is, people have switched some signs on life’s route.

Some say, “All religions lead to God.”  (Hmm, Jesus said He was the only way.)

Or, “If I’m good enough, without any of the really bad sins, God should let me into heaven.”  (Sorry, I’ve read Romans 3:23: “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”).

I’ve heard, “I’ve figured out my own type of religion.”  Hmmm.  “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death” (Proverbs 14:12).

 

The day I took this photo, road crews were out removing overhanging branches that could break and snarl traffic when the snows come.  Flaggers stood at appropriate distances to direct one-way traffic as just-cut debris was loaded onto trucks. I’m glad they were there! For some reason, I thought of another scriptural “go-this-way” passage—one that encouraged me to keep trusting God when life’s challenges left me confused and doubting.  Isaiah wrote it to his nation to remind the people of God’s compassion and desire that they follow only Him. The principles of God’s trustworthiness encouraged me, too:

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’ (Isaiah 30:21)

Through this, God reminded me that He is my “lead car” or flagger in life’s inevitable interruptions and detours. He is the Way, the only safe way.