Red Lights, Yellow Lights, and the God Who Stays

In 2015, I wrote a short post called Yes, No, Wait: He Answers EVERY Prayer.

I believed it then.

I believe it now.

But life has a way of taking your theology off the page and putting it into your bloodstream.

Back then, I compared prayer to a stoplight.

Sometimes God says Green — and we rejoice.

Sometimes He says Red — and we don’t understand.

Sometimes He says Yellow — and we wait longer than we want to.

Green feels easy to call “answered prayer.”

Clear scan.

Good report.

Open door.

But what about when the diagnosis still comes?

When the door closes?

When the outcome isn’t what we asked for?

Is that unanswered?

I don’t think so.

In the garden, Jesus prayed:

“If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me… yet not as I will, but as You will.”

 Matthew 26:39

The cup did not pass.

But the Father did not leave.

That’s the part we sometimes miss.

The answer was not escape.

The answer was presence.

The answer was strength to walk through.

Psalm 23 doesn’t promise we avoid valleys.

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.” 

Psalms 23:4

Through.

Not around.

Not exempt.

Through.

Maybe “answered prayer” isn’t always about outcomes.

Maybe sometimes it’s about accompaniment.

Sometimes the light is green and we celebrate.

Sometimes it’s red and we grieve.

Sometimes it’s yellow and we grow.

But in every color — He stays.

And here’s something else I’ve learned since 2015:

Trust doesn’t mean we aren’t afraid.

Trust doesn’t mean we don’t wish the light would change.

Trust means we keep moving forward — praying boldly, loving deeply, and doing what we can while leaving the rest in God’s hands.

Proverbs says:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart… and He will direct your paths.” 

 Proverbs 3:5–6

Directed paths imply motion.

We don’t sit frozen at the intersection.

We move when we can.

We wait when we must.

We stop when He says stop.

But we never walk alone.

His ways are higher.

He can be trusted.

He answers every prayer.

Even the ones that hurt.