(devotional for Thursday, 1/19/12)
My GPS is 3 years old. Every time I turn it on it reminds me that I should do an update. On Saturday when the GPS said “Turn right,” I hesitated. I was alone on an exit ramp so I scanned through the next few directions to see what way it was directing me. Then I chose to go left because I absolutely knew a quicker way to my destination.
I suppose you can see where I am going with this. I drove directly to the place I had in my mind. Turns out it wasn’t the place I was supposed to be at 15 minutes ago. Holding down the panic that threatened to rise in my chest I call my husband.
“Hey Honey, would you Google this address for me?” I ask casually. “Sure,” he willingly replies. I make a u-turn and head back up the road I have just traveled, confident that I must have missed the address and would be there in no time.
He tells me, “You need to be where the Boulevard meets the Canyon.” Great! I am on the wrong side of this sprawling suburban city with 10 miles and just as many lights separating me from my destination. A sigh of failure and discouragement escapes from my lips as I ask my husband, “I’m going to be 40 minutes late; do you think I should still go?” After a moment of quiet he says “That’s your call.”
He is so right! It is my call. It is my choice to go to a meeting late or not at all. It is my choice to follow the directions I am being given or not. It is my choice to get angry. It is my choice to eat when I am not in need of nourishment. The list is endless! Aargh! I hate it when all my excuses have been stripped away. Yet, I am so grateful that God cares enough for me to not leave me wandering. So sure I know which way I should be going but not headed in the direction that He has for me.
Isaiah 30:22 (The Message) Your teacher (God’s Holy Spirit) will be right there, local and on the job, urging you on whenever you wander left or right: "This is the right road. Walk down this road." You'll scrap your expensive and fashionable god-images. You'll throw them in the trash as so much garbage, saying, "Good riddance!"
Just like I ignored the GPS, how often do I ignore God’s direction for in my life? What little compromises and oversights have I allowed to creep into my life casting shadows across my vision, blurring my direction, and twisting my testimony? I often feel like I have just been down a road, and then I wonder why am I here again? Yes, because I made a choice!
Dear Lord, thank You for giving me a free will. I would not enjoy being a puppet. But sometimes I feel like I am a puppet of my own preferences and desires. Please work in my heart: break it up and remove the rocks, roots and trash of unbelief, fear and doubt so it will become good soil. As I read Your Word each day please send it deep into my heart and watch over it so that it will grow. In Jesus name, amen.
Written by Mary M. Wilkins
(By the way, I did go late to the meeting.)
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