In large cities, traffic is often monitored and controlled from a central office. Behind the “Authorized Personnel Only” door, controllers watch screens displaying current images and data from traffic cameras and sensors. When they notice congestion building up, they can change the traffic flow in several ways. They may alter how long certain traffic lights stay red or green. Or they may dictate a warning to flash on a roadside message board, instructing drivers to take a detour. When accidents occur, the traffic controllers help direct emergency personnel in responding to the scene.
When these things happen, the controllers don’t take time to explain why the red light you’re stopped at on Main Street is suddenly longer, or why there’s a detour around Third and Washington, or where they’re sending those emergency vehicles that just zipped by you. Taking time to explain all that to everyone would only cause more delays.
Can you imagine what would happen if people stopped trusting this system? Just think of the chaos if everyone started pulling into intersections whenever they had a “hunch” the light should change. Or what if everyone, out of curiosity, started racing behind the emergency vehicles they see speeding to an accident scene?
As drivers, we aren’t promised to be kept informed of everything that’s happening throughout the traffic grid—instead, we’re simply instructed to follow the rules and directions laid out in our state driver’s manual. That manual tells us to go on green and stop on red. It explains who goes first at a four-way stop. It gives directions on how closely to follow other vehicles and how to determine when it’s safe to pass. Meanwhile, as we follow the manual, the controllers work behind the scenes to help us get where we’re going. Our obedience to the manual ensures that we react correctly in any scenario the controllers use to direct us.
That’s what God’s will is like. We aren’t privy to everything happening behind the scenes. Instead, we acknowledge God’s control of it all, and as long as we obey His written Word (our manual), we can trust Him to “work all things for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). Our duty, then, is to obey the revelation we’ve been given.
Although helpful, this illustration has its limits as a picture of God’s will. While a traffic controller works with a team of people to monitor events, God already knows everything about everything everywhere at all times—without any help. And while a controller reacts to events, God is proactive, already guiding the future before it happens. Further, whereas traffic controllers are limited to merely placing information in front of people to guide them, God has power to change our hearts and minds.
Most importantly, unlike traffic controllers who are imperfect, God is perfect and sovereignly works all things at the same time perfectly (though we rarely notice His divine intervention). He never has to “redirect traffic” because of any decisions of ours that He wasn’t expecting. Somehow, in His unfathomable wisdom, He has already made our decisions a part of His perfect plan. In fact, in His perfect knowledge, God never needs any kind of “control room” to monitor any situation here on earth.
God has instructed us to obey His manual, the Bible. That’s our assignment in pursuing His will. While He uses various other means (circumstances, events, our desires, etc.) to direct us, He doesn’t let us see everything from His “behind the scenes” perspective. God has chosen to keep certain matters to himself—which is why it’s never profitable for you or me to spend time trying to figure out those things.