Finding the Best Route
This past Christmas, I was excited to find a GPS device on sale. I purchased one for my daughter because many times I have drawn a detailed map for her to get to a particular destination. I was proud of my purchase, and I couldn’t wait to show my wife, Julie. On the day of the purchase, I pulled it out of the new box to show Julie how it worked. I told her that I would no longer need to draw detailed directions for our daughter. Julie was skeptical of my new purchase, but I was going to show her how great it was.
On our way home from just across town from where we live, I plugged it in and set the course for home. We, of course, knew the best way to our house since we were so close to home, but no more than thirty seconds after turning the device on, a voice from the GPS said, “Turn right.” The street I was approaching was not the best route home, so I ignored the direction and drove past the street. Julie gave me that questioning look so I told her, “It means the street ahead, not that one.” Instantly the device said, “Recalculating.” I began to question my purchase.
I’ve not thought much of this story until this past week. I was across the state from my home in a small town where I was not familiar with the roads. I have since Christmas purchased my own GPS device to help me find the customers that I call on in my work. After I left my appointment, I entered GO HOME into my GPS device. Let me explain here that I came from another appointment in another city, so I did not know the best route to my home. The device said, “Calculating,” and then proceeded to tell me which way to turn. I followed the instructions, and I was on my way home - or so I thought.
The route directed me through the town, and I proceeded down a major Georgia highway. Shortly out of the city, I noticed a directional highway sign that said, “ROME 19 MILES.” I didn’t want to go to Rome. Rome was north and my house is east. So I pulled over to the side of the road, and guess what I did? I pulled out the old written map for directions.
Isn’t it interesting about the GPS? This is one of man’s best inventions. We have a little device that sits on our dashboard that communicates to a satellite way up in space. It is full of man-programmed information, and it still can make errors in the best direction for us to take. Then I think about God’s GPS system programmed in salmon. These fish are born in a particular spot in a river, swim out to the deep sea, and return to the same spot in the river to birth their young. I wonder how evolutionists explain this mystery? How does a fish know the exact spot to come back to spawn, when I can’t walk back through a large building with many corridors shortly after I walked in? This is certainly evidence of a Creator to me! I typed “salmon and spawning” into Google to see what science says. This is a direct quote from a science publication: “Scientists do not know exactly how a salmon "remembers" the way back to its native stream after an ocean journey possibly lasting several years and covering several thousand miles. They agree, however, that salmon, like homing pigeons, appear to have an innate compass or "search recognition" mechanism that does not rely on the sun, moon, stars, or physical signs.”--- I can tell them where this “innate compass” comes from!
As I was studying my map to see where I was, and where I needed to go, I had an internal thought. My thought was, “Isn’t this just like finding our best route for living?” You see, we have electronic media, like TV, radio, and the Internet, that will certainly influence our direction in life, but there is an old written Map that provides us with the best direction home. I’m sitting in my house right now writing this lesson, but like the song written and performed by Stephen Curtis Chapman says, “We are not home yet.” Jesus tells us, “I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going (John 14:2-4 NIV.)” Jesus says here, “You know the way to the place where I am going,” but I ask you; do you know how to find the best way (route) there?
I would like to encourage you to do what I often do when I get direction from our electronic devices and media; I look to the Map to see if it agrees with the direction given. The “Map” I am writing about is the Word of God, our Bible. You should compare anything you hear, read, or witness to the Word of God to make sure you are on the best route home. (Including my lessons!) We have several gifted speakers, many of which are on TV, but as my loving mother taught me, “Don’t believe anything you hear, and only half of what you see.” As a young boy, I really didn’t know exactly what this saying meant, but now I understand that things may not always be as they seem to appear.
Now, I must tell you that if you don’t have a practice of reading your Bible, you won’t have any clues of whether the directions you are given to follow are the best for you. Oftentimes, some of the directions given contain parts of the Bible, and this would make it seem to be the best “route” for you to travel, but if you don’t have a basic understanding of reading the “Map”, you will follow that route blindly. Very much like my trip home, the GPS was giving me terms that sounded right by quoting highway names, but if I didn’t compare where it was sending me to the written map, I would have gone the wrong direction.
You may think here, “Robby, I bet if you would have followed the GPS directions, you would have finally gotten home.” I agree with you, and I say if you don’t read your Bible, you may still end up home (heaven with the Lord,) but you may go on a dangerous detour that may not be the best direction for your life. What if there was a “best laid out plan” for your life? Would you want to travel that road, or are you OK thinking all roads will eventually lead you to the same place? The Bible says, "As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him. For who is God besides the Lord? And who is the Rock except our God? It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights. He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You give me your shield of victory; you stoop down to make me great. You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn (2 Samuel 22:31-37.)” I like that last verse for this lesson; “You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn.” Yes you can choose another path, and it may also take you to where you eventually desire to go, but that path may just cause you to “turn your ankle” and cause pain in your life. I don’t know about you, but if I can do anything to prevent pain in my life, I’m all for it!
This reminds me of another “Map” verse: “And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, ‘Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!’ So God granted him what he requested (1 Chronicles 4:10 NKJ.)” I pray this verse often! I like to read that God granted Jabez his request. I pray that God also grants me this same request. I pray that the Lord continues to bless me, and to enlarge my ministry for His glory. I pray for His hand to guide me on my paths. I pray that on His path I am kept from evil, even though tempted of sin, because I don’t want to cause ANY pain in the life of my loving family. My “Map” reading helps keep me on the best route home.
I will close this lesson with one last word of encouragement. I often hear people say, “Reading the Bible is difficult for me. I just don’t get much out of all the different stories.” I say I understand. Earlier in my life, I was one of the people saying this. Here is my advice for “Map” reading: If I sent you over to the county library and asked you to go to the map room and read through all the maps in the room, you would be overwhelmed a little, and get pretty bored in a short while. But if I sent you over to read a specific travel book that had a story and clear instructions on traveling the many roads that can lead to your home, you may be more interested in reading that. I would also ask you to read only one story at a time, and to think about what you can learn from the past as to which is the best route to take on your journey home. The Bible tells us: “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart (Hebrews 4:12 NIV.)” This specific “Travel Book” is the only book that is “living” and “active.” When you begin to take the time to make it a habit to open the Word of God, read a short passage of the text, and to seek a meaning of application to your life, you will begin to sense the penetration of the words into your heart. I have joined an on-line, one-year, Bible reading plan that combines the Old Testament and the New Testament in each daily reading. This has been much help to me in reading all the way through the Bible.
I challenge you to take me up on this suggested reading plan. Some may say that all roads lead to the same destination, but this is not true. There is a best route already planned out for you. I wish that I could tell you that there were no potholes on that “best route,” but those temporary flat tires teach us to slow down, and reflect on what really matters in reaching home. I pray that you follow the best route and avoid the dangerous detours that are before you. How do you know which are bad routes, and which is the best route? Follow the “Map!”
Robby
