How Are You Charting Your Course?
Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do—so throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, and catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. Mark Twain
Before your ship moves from the port, you need a map. Why would you ever even until a vessel if you had no clear direction to go?
And yet it happens.
We have been given a map. God’s Word is our guide. It is our advantage in life. It is a lighthouse on the shore that can warn us and help us in storms. When we feel confused or lost at sea it is our “due north.”
Just this morning, I was praying about something in our lives that was confusing to me. I am reading through Romans, and my Bible is lying open to the section I am reading. A verse jumped off the page at me and was directly answering the question I was asking. I laughed out loud because it was so beautiful to see Him guiding me.
So many have laid their Word aside. For whatever reason, they have stopped reading it. Ships at sea without a map. And we wonder how we end up in the middle of messes over and over and over.
Our Good Father wants to help us. Sometimes, there are directions in His word that He gives us that are adjustments we need to make to hear Him better. We all need course corrections. (The one this morning was a correction for me, actually.) But are we willing to yield ourselves to Him to show us those shifts in our lives? And I won’t lie, when I got the correction this morning, it hurt my pride. Part of me wanted to be embarrassed and argue. But how much sense does arguing with the Great Cartargrapher about his maps make?
When these course corrections come we need to be open and willing to yield to the Lord and shift where there needs to be shifting, even when our pride is pricked. Pride is from the enemy; we need it exposed every time it raises its nasty head.
We are all on a journey meant to bring Him glory and honor. We are ambassadors of the Kingdom who get to re-present Him. We aren’t going to be perfect, nor are we expected to be. Each day, we get to show up and be the best versions of ourselves we can be. His Word helps us navigate this life. Why would we try to chart our course without it, without Him?
Yes, He speaks to our hearts and minds through the Holy Spirit, our counselor. But He also speaks to us through His Word, and it is imperative that we, as believers, steep ourselves in His Word often. We can get wonky when we stray away from it. The way we remember directions can get distorted if we don’t regularly refer to our map.
Friends, this is an encouragement. We have been given God's living and active Word, our help. It is a gift to us. Just typing this today makes me want to hold one of my Bibles in my hands and pray a prayer of thankfulness.
If you don’t have a desire to get into the Word, here’s an invitation to you. Pick yours up and invite the Holy Spirit to meet you as you begin to read. Ask the Lord to open your heart and mind to His Word and see what happens! I have even prayed that He would give me a desire to read the Word. You are going to be amazed at what happens.
If you are someone who has read the Bible a lot during your lifetime and you don’t have a passion for it anymore, I want to encourage you to pray that God would give you a fresh desire for His Word. Ask Him to help you to see things you have never noticed and understand parts that previously eluded you. He can breathe new life into our study.
We were created for such a time as this, and God is doing great and mighty things on the earth during this season. Let’s purpose to chart our course as closely as we can to His directions.
