“I desire to press forward for direction to my Master in all things; but as to trusting to my own obedience and righteousness, I should be worse than a fool and ten times worse than a madman.”
Charles Spurgeon
Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.
Psalm 95:8-11
Has your GPS ever steered you wrong, like in the wrong county wrong? Have you ever shared a post on social media only to find out it was false? The world today is full of false information, so where can we go to get the Truth?
When I taught research methods to my English students, I tried to explain why certain resources were valid and others were not. The best place to go for information on a topic, especially literary works, was to go to primary sources. In other words, go to the work itself or works of people with expertise in the field, not works summarizing what other people have said without fact checking. If you want the Truth, then you need to go to the original author: God. You can find the Truth in His book the Bible, which is the very Word of God.
Lights the Way
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
Psalm 119:105
The Word of God is great with directions, but it doesn’t try to give you every detail of the trip up front. The Word tells us that God is in control, that if we believe in Jesus as Lord we are saved, that Jesus will come again, and that God will make all things right. He doesn’t tell every single detail and pit stop along the way, but we can trust Him to show us the way.
You see the Word is a lamp to our feet. If you’ve ever walked in the country at night with only a lamp, you know that it will only illuminate a few steps in front of you. What matters is this moment in time, and the next step God has shown you. Once you take that step the next one will become apparent.
Does What It Says
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
Isaiah 55:11
We can trust the next step because the Word does what it says it will do. God’s promises are always fulfilled, and we have a book full of examples to prove it. God promised a land for the children of Israel, but they stopped short of taking the land and disobeyed God. He had rescued them from Egypt and helped them cross the wilderness with many signs and wonders, but they were unwilling to take the next step. The result is they died in the wilderness and missed out on the promise. The next generation trusted God and were obedient, so they received the promise. Don’t allow your heart to be hardened by disobedience or the things of this world so that you miss out on promises of God. Let the Word do its work in you.
Works with the Precision of a Scalpel
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12
The Word of God acts with the precision of a surgeon with a scalpel. It cuts out the sin and gets to the heart of the matter. When we take in the Word of God and let it work, we will have a thick skin that doesn’t let the world, or the enemy, get to us, but we still have a soft heart that is obedient to God. The Truth sometimes hurts, but it ultimately heals.
Like Charles Spurgeon, I desire to take all my directions from God because I know I will be lost without Him. Still, I have not yet arrived. I have to keep going back to my map. Sometimes I have to backtrack to find where I got off the trail. Sometimes I have to cry out for a rescue party. Yet, God is faithful. He always puts me back on the right road when I ask.
If you feel like you’ve gotten totally lost and there is no hope, the promises of God are still as sure today as when He spoke to them. Check out the song in the link below for a reminder that there is a Promise Coming Down that Dusty Road.