We recently made a trip to the town I grew up in to visit a friend at a location I vaguely remembered. We moved away from there when I was 15, so I’d never driven around there myself.
We figured the Google Maps directions Hubs wrote out and our recently-handed-down Garmin, combined with my generally good sense of direction and vague recollections of the area, should suffice to get us there.
Our particular Garmin model doesn’t tell which street to turn on, just “in point 2 miles, turn right.”… then, “Turn right.” (Of course, this command often comes just after it’s too late to actually make that turn.)
And the map on it doesn’t give a good overview, so I find it hard to really trust it. (Ok, I may have control issues too, but that’s another post!)
I prefer the turn-by-turn printed directions from Google Maps that are reinforced by a detailed map that I can see. I like getting the ‘big picture’ view so I can see the context rather than just the sliver of the path I’m on.
As we followed the Google directions and the Garmin along an unfamiliar freeway, I took my memory and bearings out of the equation.
At one point the Garmin told us one thing and the Google map showed us another. One told us to go north and the other pointed us south.
In the end, the conflict between the two had us far enough off course that we had to call and get directions from a real person who knew where we were, where we needed to be, and how to actually get there.
Following God’s directions for our life can be like deciding whether to follow Google or Garmin.
When looking at scripture, we can take the “Google” approach with its satellite views, detailed maps and turn-by-turn directions. We can look at small sections of God’s word to see just what we need for the path we’re on, but we can also pull back and get a look at the ‘big picture’ and the greater context that helps us gain our bearings and see where we’re headed.
But often we prefer the abbreviated instructions that come via a Garmin-like approach. We don’t look at the entire landscape; just the passage that we think reinforces the direction we’re trying to go. Sometimes we don’t even look at the map (Bible) for ourselves; we listen to the voices around us and follow their small glimpse of the road instructions. We follow along step-by-step, not realizing that we’re being slowly led off course until we look around and realize we haven’t ended up where we intended.
We need to remember that even though there are a lot of great tools, devotions, sermons and such to help us along our journey, we need to keep our own God-given road map handy to make sure we’re really on track.
Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Great analogy Mary! We once had Google directions point us in the opposite direction of a destination we could see, and we followed the directions! LOL
Thanks for this wonderful reminder!!