GPS

Even with GPS the Israelites would have wandered for 40 years.Recently, I was at a speaking engagement in South Jersey and I needed to go into Philadelphia to pick up a friend. The only thing I knew was that I needed to head north. My son had loaned me his GPS (Global Positioning System) and gave me a few quick lessons on how to use it. It seemed pretty simple. I got into the car turned on the GPS and got started. The first thing it told me to me was turn left out of the parking lot. WHAT? No way! That is south; I know I need to head north. So I ignored it and turned right. Within moments I heard, 'recalculating' which, by the way, was the first of several times I would hear that in the first 5 minutes of my trip. Since it didn't make sense to me to head south, I ignored the instructions and headed in the general direction I 'knew' I needed to go. I found the GPS is only really effective if you actually follow its instructions. I couldn't help but chuckle at the picture in my mind of Moses with a GPS. I could just hear it. Moses instructs the people that they needed to break camp and head north. The murmuring rippled through the camp, "not north, we need to head south, do you know where you are taking us?" Then I realized they had GPS - God Positioning System. "And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night."(1) Even with GPS it took the Israelites 40 years to arrive at their destination, the Promised Land. Why? Because they wanted to 'go their own way.' They choose disobedience over obedience over and over and over again. "So the LORD's anger was aroused against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the LORD was gone."(2)On several occasions, God has shown me how very much like the Israelites I really am. Not only did I want to go my own way that Saturday afternoon, but far too often I want to go my own way in life. I want to choose my own direction but when I do, I find myself miserably lost. It seems I can always find my way back to my God Positioning System. He leads and guides me to the destination He already knows. "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye."(3) Diane Hunt is the Director of Addiction Recovery Ministries

1 Exodus 13:212 Numbers 32:133 Psalm 32:8