When God Says “Proceed with Caution”
Scripture: “Do not be afraid, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.” – Isaiah 41:10
Over the past year, they’ve installed new stoplights on Perth Road. Some blink yellow, others red. What’s constant is our collective confusion about what to do when faced with these blinking lights.
Yellow lights aren’t telling us to stop completely. They’re saying “proceed with caution.” What if fear works the same way?
I used to think fear was the enemy – something to be conquered or ignored. But Brianna Wiest describes fear not as a roadblock, but as a warning light on our spiritual dashboard. It’s a flashing indicator that we’re approaching something important—something that might require us to change our speed or direction.
When the Light Starts Blinking
Like drivers approaching a yellow light, we typically respond to fear in three ways:
Fight: We accelerate, trying to beat the light. Like David initially accepting Saul’s armor against Goliath, we try to muscle through with our own strength rather than trusting God’s timing and way. We think if we just push harder, move faster, or control more variables, we can outrun what scares us. But as psychiatrist Carl Jung noted, “What you resist persists.” Sometimes our aggressive response to fear creates exactly the situation we were trying to avoid.
Flight: We make a premature turn to avoid the intersection altogether. Think of Jonah, who chose an alternate route to Tarshish rather than facing his calling to Nineveh. The detour just led to a longer, stormier journey. Thomas Merton writes about this tendency, noting that “We stumble and fall constantly even when we are most enlightened. But when we are in true spiritual darkness, we do not even know that we have fallen.” Our attempts to escape fear often lead us into darker territories.
Freeze: We stop dead in our tracks, even when the light’s just telling us to proceed with care. Like the Israelites at the Red Sea, we can become paralyzed by what looks impossible rather than seeing God’s invitation to move forward in faith. Jewish theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel describes this as “the moment when wonder turns to fear” – when possibility becomes paralysis.
Reading the Signals
Wiest suggests that fear is less about danger and more about development. She writes in her later chapters that our fears often point directly to our next stage of growth. When a yellow light appears on our journey:
- It’s not saying “Stop forever”
- It’s not saying “Turn around”
- It’s saying “Pay attention. Something significant is ahead.”
Our fear responses can be rewired when we learn to read them as information rather than threats.
The Sacred Pause
Consider Peter walking on water. The storm’s waves were like warning lights, triggering his survival instincts. But Jesus wasn’t asking him to ignore the warning lights – He was teaching Peter to read them differently. The flashing signals of fear weren’t saying “Retreat to the boat”; they were saying “This is where trust grows.”
Franciscan Richard Rohr suggests that these moments of sacred pause – when we neither rush through nor run away from our fear – become “the narrow birth canal through which wisdom is born.”
Learning a New Response
When we understand fear as a cautionary light rather than a red stop signal, we can:
- Slow down enough to assess what’s truly at stake
- Look carefully at what God might be showing us
- Proceed with mindful trust rather than blind panic or frozen indecision
Wiest concludes that our fears often mark the threshold of transformation. The yellow light isn’t a warning of danger ahead – it’s an invitation to proceed with holy attention.
Prayer: God of courage, help me see fear’s yellow lights not as barriers but as invitations to proceed with holy caution. When I want to race through, help me slow down. When I want to turn away, help me stay the course. When I freeze, remind me that yellow means proceed with care, not stop in despair. Let my fears become doorways to deeper trust in You. Amen.
Action Steps:
- Identify one fear currently flashing in your life
- Ask: What is this yellow light trying to tell me?
- Consider: How might God be inviting me to proceed with caution rather than stop in fear?
- Practice the sacred pause: When fear rises, take three deep breaths and ask, “What’s the invitation here?”
- Journal about a time when fear led to growth – what did that yellow light teach you?
Closing Thought: The next time fear flashes its warning lights, remember: God isn’t telling you to stop. He’s inviting you to proceed with divine caution, trusting that He controls all the lights on your journey. As Wiest reminds us, “Your fears are not walls, they are gates. Your fears are not meant to hold you back, they are meant to point the way forward.”