Whose Directions Are You Following?

My sister-in-law, Loretta, is visiting. She just drove up from Alabama, a twelve-hour drive. We were joking about her difficulties with her new navigator, Lucy.

Lucy kept offering information of doubtful value. While driving around Indianapolis, it really didn’t matter if they took the Interstate loop up the west side or the east. But Lucy kept insisting that they had taken the wrong one, and complained noisily for miles. Finally she gave up and agreed to just take US 31 off the north side of the loop, no matter how they got there.

After a few other minor disagreements, the last major complaint was when Lucy insisted that our house number didn’t exist. Loretta knew better, but Lucy had the last laugh. As they were driving past the cemetery a quarter-mile from my house, Lucy kept saying, “Turn right, now; turn right, now; you have reached your destination.”

Loretta looked at Lucy askance, and said, “I hope not!”

Perhaps by now, you have surmised that Lucy is a GPS unit. I’m sure many of you have your own funny stories about being led astray by these modern wonders. But there’s a lesson here. It’s not a new lesson, but the GPS theme gives us a slightly new perspective.

The directions offered by the miracle of computerized navigation are only as good as the information stored in the system’s databank. No one wants to end up sitting at the end of some dead end road with the machine annoyingly insisting that you are where you want to be, when clearly, that is not where you are. Everyone wants to buy the system with the best maps, best list of places of interest, and most recent updates. Many drivers blindly trust these flawed systems, even more than their own common sense.

In the story above, Loretta knew more than the GPS, because she had traveled to our house before. But when she's going somewhere new, she has to trust the GPS databank. The most trustworthy person or system (assuming basic honesty) is the one with the most knowledge, the one who has the broadest view of the situation.

Yet, a lot of people wander through life following some system of directions with incomplete or faulty data, created by someone who did not have complete information about the way. Other people reject all directional guidance, preferring to make up a system as they go along that works for them with no view at all of a map for their lives. But the real test, the critical test, is whether the directions you choose to follow will get you to the goal in the end.

I’m sure you see where I’m going with this. What set of directions are you using for your life? Are you following a trustworthy guide to lead you to a meaningful goal?

II Timothy 3:16
Psalm 119:105