How to Get There from Here
Bible Reading: Psalm 119:57-64
I pondered the direction of my life, and I turned to follow your statutes. Psalm 119:59
It’s hard to have any sympathy for these goofballs:
Famed pirate historian Dr. Chester Doubloons stumbled onto a map to a sunken Spanish ship loaded with gold. After tucking the map into a safe, Doubloons set out on a quest to get rich. But after sixteen years, he’s still searching the Caribbean for signs of the buried treasure.
Girl genius Lotta Graymatter graduated from college and entered law school at age twelve. But in seven years of law school, Ms. Graymatter has failed every class she has taken. “Law books are so heavy and they don’t have pictures,” Lotta explained to her family. “I’ll just have to become a lawyer my own way.”
With his dying breaths, a scientist dictated to his assistant, Sinus Naselmeister, a formula to cure the common cold. After typing the formula into his computer, Naselmeister shut down the machine and began experimenting. His best medicine so far is a cough syrup that tastes so bad even lab rats won’t take it.
You can’t find a sunken galleon full of gold if the treasure map is locked in a safe. You can’t become a lawyer if you don’t read the textbooks. And you can’t develop a cure for the common cold if the formula is rotting on your hard drive.
No one is that dumb—but some folks come close. It seems like plenty of Christians make the same mistake our three weird friends made. We want to find God’s direction for our life, but we overlook the most obvious guidance device God has provided: the Bible. It’s our map to God’s treasures for our life. It’s our textbook for wisdom and understanding. It’s our formula for dealing with problems. If we don’t turn to the Bible for direction, we’re worse off than those three dunces rolled together.
Last July we talked about God’s universal will and his specific will. God’s universal will is for everyone in the universe, and it’s clear beyond any doubt because it is spelled out in his Word. It covers the commands that apply to everyone. God’s specific will includes details just for you.
God has good in store for you. He said in the Old Testament, “For I know the plans I have for you… They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). But the only way you’ll discover those good plans is if you follow his directions!
TALK: Isn’t it great that God loves you enough to give you all the direction you need for your life? How does knowing that make you feel?
PRAY: God, thanks for guiding us through your Word.
ACT: Do you have a tough decision to make right now—big or small? What does God’s Word have to say about it?