The other day, we were driving to a location unfamiliar to us so we hooked up the GPS, plugged in the address and buckled up. Now, some of the highlighted path was familiar to us and so I knew the right direction to take… it was just all the side streets and unknown turns that we looked to the GPS for help.
As we were making our way down the highway, the GPS was telling me to “turn at next exit” but I knew that wasn’t right. The place we were going to was the other direction all together. I knew without a doubt that this was the wrong turn… but I surprisingly followed what the computerized voice was telling me.
Why did I do that?
Why, since I knew the right way to go, did I deliberately choose the wrong way. Why was I so willing to abandon what I knew to be true to follow a voice I knew to be wrong?
Can you see where I’m going with this?
We do the same in our Christian walk. If we read our Bibles, participate in Bible studies, attend church… we know the right thing to do. But we still listen to that sometimes quiet, sometimes loud voice leading us down the wrong path… and fast.
So what’s our problem? I tend to think it’s a matter of trust. The question I ask myself is “God, do I really trust that your ways are better?”
Here are some thoughts that can run through our minds when there is a choice of paths to follow:
- I know I’m forgiven and that eternity in heaven is secured, so what’s the concern.
- There’s a good chance no one will ever find out so there is no real accountability.
- In this situation, I think I know what’s best for me.
- This particular issue doesn’t have a stronghold on me, so I can dabble in it all I want to.
- Add your own excuse if one of these don’t fit.
Can God really be trusted with all things… “you?”
Well, Psalm 62:8 tells us yes. It reads… “Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.”
When we struggle with choosing that other path… the one that may temporarily make us feel good… pour out your heart to Him and tell Him your struggle and trust Him to answer… and watch HIM become your refuge making straight your path.
While we’ll never be free of the directions suggested to us from our worldly GPS… God provides us with a heavenly GPS through His word, the Bible.
And rest assured His GPS will never send us in the wrong direction.
