God As Our GPS

God as our GPS

I was given a GPS (Global Positioning System) for my birthday. After spending some time trying to get into the hard plastic packaging, I finally had my GPS in hand! I turned it on and the first thing it showed me was the state (South Carolina) where I was. I was a bit amazed that this little black box knew where it and I were. Then I realized: “hey, that’s what it’s for!” To show me where to go—it’s a satellite navigation system! Next, it prompted me to put in my home address, starting with my city. As I typed in the name of my city, this smart little gadget showed me the adjacent streets to where my address was. Then I set up the voice type that I wanted. All this time, the GPS was quiet and so I thought I had programmed it wrong or that the GPS was a defective one. I called a friend who had had one for a while to explain my confusion. He explained that the GPS doesn’t start talking unless I start to drive to a destination. And so to try out my new GPS, I took a road trip. I punched in my destination address and started driving. As I drove, he (I chose a male’s voice) started to direct me to my destination (turn left after 50 yards, turn right after 800 yards, etc). After a few minutes of this, guess what I did? I became very relaxed, confident that this little black box was going to get me to my destination—I just had to follow his “leadings”. At one point I deliberately made a wrong turn and he put me back on the right track.

We, as Christians, have a better and more Powerful GPS in us and with us always. We have: God’s Powerful Son – Jesus; God’s Precious Spirit – our Guide who guides us into all truth; and God’s Potent Scriptures – His Word.

1. Just as the GPS instantly knew my location, God always knows where we are. And this isn’t just limited to a physical location. God knows where we are emotionally and spiritually (Ps. 139:7).
2. The GPS did not say a word until I started to GO somewhere. Our God too is a progressive God. In Gen. 12:1, He said to Abram: “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you”. He basically told Abram: “go and I will show”. As Abram went God spoke. How many times have we become paralyzed by fear or discouragement in our Spiritual life? I have.. And whenever I go through one of those “standstill” moments, it sometimes gets very quiet. It seems like God is not saying anything at that moment! God wants us to keep walking by faith, living by faith, and keeping in step with the Spirit. Now that’s some movement!
3. And when we do make detours on our Spiritual journeys, God is always there to bring us back to the road from which we strayed.

With God as our ultimate GPS, why do we sometimes become uneasy on our road trips with Him? He is ALWAYS with us and He will never guide us wrong!

© Copyright 2008, Andrea Bush