spiritual

Spiritual G.P.S., by Randall D. Kittle

Have you ever been lost? I don’t mean not being sure if turning on the next street versus another will be a little faster, or not being certain at which house you need to stop. I’m talking about having that sinking feeling inside that, not only don’t you know how to get to where you are supposed to go, you’re not even sure where you’re at?

Although my wife might tell you I’ve gotten lost a number of times, there was only one time in my life I ever remember having those anxious apprehensions from having no idea where I was … and no clue how to get “back on track.”

The Peril of Losing Our Way
It was during the summer before I went into sixth grade. I had been at our church youth group for a party and was waiting for my parents to pick me up. After loitering about for what seemed like an eternity (though it was probably only a few minutes), I decided I knew the way home well enough to walk the 1½ miles back home. It might have turned out fine except for the fact that it was rather warm that day. I soon became hot and tired, and decided to take a “short cut” between a couple of houses by cutting through their back yards. Unfortunately, the backyards in that area form a large wooded tract, and in no time, without me realizing it, I was hopelessly lost. What should have been a 20-30 minute walk, turned into nearly two hours of me frantically hoping I’d see something I recognized, while both my parents drove their cars around the neighborhood trying to find their “missing” son.

I did, eventually, discover the way out of those woods and soon my parents spotted their dirty and sweaty son plodding along a road toward home. That day I learned the hard way the truth contained in Proverbs 14:12, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”

Just as it was easy for me, as a child, to lose my way on my journey home that day, it is easier than you might think for us, as children of God, to go astray. We may intentionally veer off course because we think we know best, or drift away slowly, failing to notice we’re moving further and further from the walk God wants for us. The Lord is our Shepherd and as His sheep we seem to so easily stray from the pasture where He would refresh us and the path upon which He wants to lead us.

Spiritual G.P.S.
Sometimes followers of Jesus need help to get back on track spiritually. That’s why I’m glad the same prophet who said, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6), also promised, “The Lord will guide you continually” (Isaiah 58:11). This man of God also promised us, “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it’” (Isaiah 30:21).

Did you hear that? Thousands of years ago God promised to guide us continually with a voice that tells us which way to go! In other words, the Lord has said that He will be a spiritual GPS for those who trust in Him.

G.P.S. (Global Positioning System) is an amazing technology where earthly position is determined by information transmitted from a series of satellites orbiting far above the earth’s atmosphere. From up above, GPS can tell you exactly where you are on a satellite image of planet earth. Because I have a GPS unit in my car and built into my phone, it’s much harder for me to get lost these days. They continually show me where I am and tell me where I should go. If I get off course, they immediately begin plotting a new path to get me back on track.

But God’s GPS is even better. God’s Precious Spirit — the Holy Spirit — not only knows your exact position — where you are right now in the universe, He also knows your exact condition — the joys, frustrations, hopes, and fears that linger in the corners of your heart. God desires us to be guided, not by our best choices, but by that which comes from above — the leading of the Holy Spirit. Even the best guidance system, however, only works if we choose to use it … to follow its leading.

Lord, thank You that You haven’t left me on my own. You have given me the Holy Spirit, who guides me in the way I should go … if I will follow His leading. Lord, I ask that You will help me to recognize Your voice and yield my will to Your direction. Thank You for Your unfailing love.