Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Psalm 119:105
About 13 years ago, something happened that literally changed the way that I navigate and travel. Before this day, I would get out my trusty atlas and Judy would do her best to read and translate what it said. It was, uh, challenging. But then came the night I discovered—GPS.
You see, Judy, a friend, and I were heading to First Baptist Church of Metropolis to report on a mission trip we had taken. When we left my house, she said she had a new something in her new car that could tell us where we were and how to get to where we were going. “Say what?” I said. Well, she was right. She punched in the address and that thing in her dash started talking. Turn here, go straight, turn again and eventually we found ourselves in the parking lot of First Baptist. Amazing.
Well, if you know me you know I am a tech guy. I love gadgets. I remember what I said that night–“I’ve got to have one of these.” So off to Best Buy I went and before long I had one of those “talky” things in my car (I mean besides Judy—smile). Well, my talky thing had a glitch. It would say things like a trip that should take three hours would take eighteen. That was not helpful or encouraging. But hey, a quick trip back to Best Buy and the rest is history.
Now we all know now that the “talky” thing is called a GPS receiver. It is common now but back then it was cutting edge. It is simplistic yet amazing. First, far above the earth out in space there is a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS). It’s job is to watch out for the little “talky” things. The “talky” things both send a signal and receive a signal from the GPS. It’s really quite simple. The talky thing says this is me and the GPS says, “This is where you are.” What makes it even more powerful is that the map built into the talky thing, shows the lay of the land–the roads, the places to eat, the places to do life and on and on. These three, the GPS, the talky thing, and the map, all work together to get you where you need to go. But it is the thing in the sky, the GPS, that makes it all work. It knows all. It.Knows.All.
Of course, God had this GPS thing down long before the government and Best Buy came up with theirs. First, He made the “talky” things–that would be us and gave us the privilege of talking with Him and listening to Him (don’t miss that part). Second, He is up there with an advantage point that we can only imagine. He sees even the craziest of days in a way we cannot. Ever wonder why His directions seem so “odd?” Ever wonder why we sometimes are forced to admit, “God works in mysterious ways?” Well, there you go–He can see further, clearer, and better than we can–by a long shot.
All this is nice, but the clarity all comes from the map–the Word of God. It is God’s revelation of Himself to us and where we learn about Him, about us, where we are, and where He thinks we should go. It’s pretty incredible. So, we pray, and we listen–He listens and speaks (through His Word, through others, and through circumstances) and life goes better–even when it is crazy like 2020, or 2021 or like tomorrow.
I think it was Dave Ramsey who said we should turn off the news and read our Bibles. Wow, that is a great idea and it really works. Of course, as you read, get ready to act. I’m learning when the GPS says “turn” I should turn. I’m also learning to listen to the other “talky” thing in my life–Judy–smile.
The map says in Psalm 119:105 “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” This whole new normal has us in uncharted waters and on untraveled roads. Let’s be honest—the unknown can be a little frightening. My wife and I just returned from a pastor’s conference and the guy was speaking on “ministering in a land that you have never been before.” So right and so true. Trust me (and a whole boat load of experts) if we try and do church (or life) like we did in 2019, well, it will either fail or worse. So, let’s trust the GPS (God’s Powerful Son), the map (His powerful Word) and let Him navigate this trip for us. Hey, rest in Him. He’s got this. Bro. Dewayne
Grits with Grace 