God's GPS
Your Word is a lamp to
my feet and a light to my path. (Psalm 119:105)
The last place I want to be on a rainy night is a strange
road—without streetlights. A couple of weeks ago I was driving east from
Chicago back to Michigan on I-94. I waited until I was well out of the city to
stop off the highway, thinking it would be easier to find my way back to the
expressway.
I had seen a sign for a MacDonald’s, which was usually a decent place to stop. The problem was that once I turned off at that exit, it turned out the fast food place was a couple of miles down the road, so I opted for a little gas station nearby, so I could get back on the highway more quickly. I chose some licorice to munch on thinking the sugar and the chewing would keep me awake until I arrived at a friend’s house for the night.
My GPS was all ready to continue guiding me when I got back
in the car. I put it back on the dashboard. There was only one problem. I
decided to follow my instincts when it was showing me to take the second ramp
onto the highway. After all, the sign for the first turn out proclaimed I-94
going east and I was afraid to miss my turn, so I jumped on. To my dismay, I
had turned onto a surface highway, which paralleled the road I wanted. The GPS
showed I would connect with I-94 again after several miles, so I thought it
best to stay on that road until it did. The thought of turning around and going
back and possibly losing my way again seemed like more trouble than it was
worth.
The cloud cover blocked the moonlight. I was on a strange
road, in the dark and it seemed nearly pitch black! Not only that, but the road
was wet and a little slick from the cool evening air. Rain pelted the
windshield, making it more difficult to see. I almost hit a curb on a boulevard
as a curve in the road seemed to jump at me from nowhere! The exchange that
would get me back onto the right wasn’t getting close fast enough. Then I
realized, perhaps my high beam headlights would help, so I turned them on. Why
hadn’t I thought of that sooner? Eventually I made my way back to the
expressway and made it to my destination. But I had to follow the word of my
GPS and make sure I was shining enough light on the road.
The writer of Psalm 119 shares that scripture is a lamp to
his feet and a light to his path. If I had followed the GPS when first trying to
get back onto I-94, I would have not gotten lost. If I’d had more light on the
road to begin with I would not have felt so stressed. Often life is like that.
When I get off track and don’t look to God’s word, His roadmap for guidance, there are
consequences. It doesn’t mean the way will be easy, but if I have the Lord’s
wisdom to shine the light on the problem I can rest assure I am going the right
way and He’s with me through it.
Lord, please help us today and every day to cling to your word to guide us
in the right direction.
What a great analogy. I've done the same thing with those GPS. I've found the best one is google maps on my phone. So I'm canceling my On*Star. Yay! And the VERY BEST guidance, of course, is the Word just as you wrote. Great post!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Karla. A new GPS or a smart phone would be a good idea for me!
DeleteThankfully, God's word is never outdated. :)