The Rules of the Road (Friday Devotional)

“Their heart was not steadfast toward him; they were not true to his covenant. Yet he, being compassionate, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them; often he restrained his anger, and did not stir up all his wrath. He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and does not come again.”

- Psalm 78:37-39

Imagine you’re at a stoplight behind one car, patiently waiting for the light to change. Suddenly it turns green, so you ease the pressure on the brake, ready to shift your foot to the accelerator and get moving. A full second goes by, and yet the car in front of you remains stationary. Another second goes by, with the lead car still motionless, and you drum your fingers along the steering wheel and lean forward a little, almost as if to will the other car forward. As the third agonizing second ticks by, you crane your neck to figure out what’s going on—are they on their phone, or dealing with a child in the back seat, or are they just not paying attention? By the time the fourth second passes, only one question remains: how much longer until you lay on the horn?

Driving is full of little moments like that, when your patience is tested in an incredibly short period of time. It may happen in a traffic jam when you see a motorcycle weaving between cars at a high speed, dangerously flying through the makeshift parking lot of the interstate. I may happen at a four way stop when somebody jumps their place in line. Perhaps most commonly, it may happen when someone pulls out in front of you and cuts you off. In each instance, your frustration behind the wheel comes from a feeling of unfairness, from a sense that the social contract has been violated. You and everyone else on the road played by the rules, you did what you were supposed to do, and this jerk upset the balance.

Psalm 78 reminds us that on the road of life, we are that jerk. The psalmist sings of Israel’s repeated failures at upholding their covenant with God, and we cannot help but remember that, even under the new covenant of the cross, we remain just as disobedient. We are, to quote the old hymn, “prone to wander…prone to leave the God [we] love.” Called to faith, we still flee at the first sign of danger; called to hope, we still despair in times of trouble; called to love, we still find ourselves consumed with bitterness and anger. We can’t seem to follow the rules of the road.

Yet even in our repeated failings, God is compassionate and merciful, slow to anger and quick to forgive. Instead of raging against our weaknesses, the Lord took them upon himself and bore them on the cross, transforming our most miserable failures into his greatest victory. Where we were faithless, Christ was faithful, and by the grace of God our iniquities are forgiven.

That kind of mercy is not only our gift, but should serve as our inspiration. When fairness dictates harsh judgment, Christians can call for compassion. When the social contract requires punishment, Christians can call for forgiveness. In a world that demands law and order, Christians can aspire to grace and truth. Don’t miss your opportunities to live like Christ, meeting the cruel unfairness of life with the gracious unfairness of love.