I was driving out to speak at a middle school last week. I didn’t know exactly where the school was, so I had typed the address into my Google maps app on my iPhone, and as I was driving down the road towards the school, I noticed the little blue dot on the map that moved along the road as I drove. Here I was a little blue dot on a map being guided to where I wanted to go. It occurred to me that it was kind of weird, the technology that we have today – knowing EXACTLY where I was and following along as I moved closer to my destination. I had simply typed in the location I wanted to arrive at, and now in complete trust in this iPhone app, I was following it.
Why is it that we find it so easy to follow a dot on an electronic device or the instructions of a GPS device, yet we so often don’t want to follow God’s Word and CLEAR direction for our lives? Even the most advanced and costly GPS device in the entire world was still built and programmed by man, and it can make mistakes. However, GOD has NEVER made a mistake or misguided ANYONE, and He’s NOT about to mislead or point us in the wrong direction with our lives now.
We read in Psalm 32:8, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.” Not only does God know exactly where we are at EVERY moment, He also knows our EXACT thoughts, our SECRET desires, and our LIFE dreams! And He tells us if we simply trust Him, He will guide us and point us in the right direction for our lives.
I think of how most people can relate to when they were a child. If they were misbehaving out in public or disrupting a church service with noise, all our father or mother had to do was look at us in a certain way and we KNEW we’d better STOP or else it wasn’t going to be fun. They just had that certain WARNING look in their eye, and we knew EXACTLY what they meant even though they hadn’t said a word.
Well, God doesn’t audibly YELL at us when we start headed off track or engage in some action we’re not supposed to be doing. Most of the time, if we are truly a Christian, we will just get a certain feeling deep in our heart, “I shouldn’t be doing this.” or “This isn’t the right way…”. And a lot of times that’s the only “warning” we get. If we choose to IGNORE God’s warning, we’re in for trouble as well. We should CAREFULLY and EAGERLY follow God’s guidance, putting more trust in HIM than we do in ANYTHING else.
Look at what the Psalmist writes in verse 10 of that 32nd chapter, “Many are the sorrows of the wicked, But he who trusts in the LORD, lovingkindness shall surround him.” You want to be able to enjoy life? FOLLOW GOD’S GUIDANCE!! That’s the ONLY way!