Thank God for GPS
I remember the days of MapQuest! This is as antiquated an idea as the yellow pages, rotary dial
phones, and changing the channel of the television with a knob that only had 12 numbers on it.
For some of us, WE were the remotes for our dads, getting up to change the channel when he
was ready to watch another program on a different frequency. For my family, out in the country,
we only got two stations with our outdoor antenna, a CBS affiliate and an NBC affiliate, both
likely to be riddled with the snow of static if the wind blew the antenna around to a different
direction. So not only did we have to switch the dial from channel 10 to channel 6, we might
also have to go outside in the snow or rain and turn the antenna at the end of the house.
I know, I know... next I'll be telling you I walked 5 miles in the snow uphill just to get firewood
for the one-room schoolhouse I attended at the turn of the last... no, not the last, but the last
before the last turn of the century.
I'm not from that far back, but I remember when the internet was exciting! And learning I could
go online and get directions was a major advancement. MapQuest was an on-line version of the
Rand McNally Atlas of American highways. With MapQuest we were given actual turn by turn
directions that we could print out. I can't believe how outdated that sounds! In the best-case
scenario, you would travel with a navigator who'd tell you the turns ahead of time and eliminate
the need to backtrack. If you were alone, you had one hand on the wheel and the other holding
the printout which could be 10-12 pages long.
A business retreat I attended annually was at the beautiful French Lick resort in Indiana. (For
you sports fans, that's the hometown of basketball legend and former Boston Celtic Larry Bird).
Heading up the interstate, I was sure I'd read the directions correctly and was eagerly looking
for the exit that I knew was only a few miles away. My mapquest printout was tucked away,
and the miles passed, and more passed, and still more without the exit I was sure would be the
very next one, and the next thing I know I'm seeing a sign that tells me I'm within 50 or so
miles of Indianapolis...which is 50 or so miles waaaay northeast of French Lick, Indiana.
Here's a travel tip for you. In the words of baseball legend Yogi Berra, "You've got to be very
careful if you don't know where you are going, because you might not get there."
Now, I have navigation in my car, but I don't always trust it. A couple of years ago I traveled to
a speaking engagement on Fripp Island, South Carolina and had Google Maps and Waze both
open on my phone along with the car's instructions. Just to be sure. My long-ago mapquest
trauma made me paranoid.
It makes me think of the ending to one of the Star Trek movies... Was it Shatner's or Chris
Pine's Captain Kirk at the helm of the Enterprise...? "Where to, Captain?" Sulu asks. With a
casual wave of his hand, Captain Kirk answers, "Out there... somewhere," as he settles back in
the captain's chair and Sulu eases out into the universe.
Who does that? I need to know where we are going! And yet the Bible is filled with people who
didn't know where God was taking them.
I can imagine the fear and trepidation the children of Israel experienced as they left the
familiarity of Egypt. Granted, it was not a great place to visit or to live if you were of the
Hebrew nation. But it was the life they knew. They were enslaved and had been for a long, long
time. Long enough that their current slave masters didn't know or care that Joseph, the Hebrew
who'd been Prime Minister, had saved them from famine. Long enough to lose faith. All they
had to give them hope was a history, a covenant passed down through generations, and stories
of forebears that spoke of a Promised Land, an inheritance that was theirs alone given to them
by their God.
Their deliverer, Moses, came to take them out of Egypt, out of slavery, with the supernatural
signs and wonders initiated by God and performed before Pharoah to convince him to let the
people go. And away they went with riches and spoils given to them by their soon-to-be former
slave masters.
Scripture records their exit in Exodus 13:17-22: "When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not
lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, 'If
they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.' So God led the people
around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for
battle.
Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath.
He had said, 'God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you
from this place.' After leaving Sukkoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. By day
the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a
pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of
cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people."
I'm guessing Moses didn't have a print-out of turn-by-turn directions, and he was relying on
instructions from God as to how and where they were to go, what their next steps were. Exodus
14:1 says, "Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Tell the Israelites to turn back and
encamp...between Migdol and the sea...'"
Turn back? Turn back? I thought we were getting out of here! Why are we turning back!?
If they'd had GPS on their way out of Egypt, no doubt it would have started squawking at them
about changing their direction. U-turn at first available light. Turn around at next available wide
space in the road. Recomputing! Danger Will Robinson, Danger!
Isn't it like that for most of our faith steps? It is a scary place to be in life and in business. Do I
leave the familiar, the things I know, the comfort of predictability, of guaranteed outcomes, for
the unknown of a calling, a business, a new thing that God may be doing in, around, for, and
through me?
I don't know about you, but I don't always see the pillar of cloud nor the fire by night. Lord, I
need a beacon. If a billboard isn't available, I'd even accept a 2 x 4 upside the head. I just need
direction! Where's my GPS?
Funny thing about GPS... it can't compute your route without a destination. Unlike Captain
Kirk, if we tell it, "Out there...somewhere," our devices can't map the way. But God can. Listen
to His promises:
Proverbs 20:24 "A person's steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand
their own way?" Isaiah 42:16 "I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along
unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the
rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them." Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to
give you a future and a hope.
Psalm 119:105 says, "Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light for my path." That might be the
pillars of cloud and fire we need for our guidance system.
Is God taking you to a new place? Are you ready to leave behind some things that may be
holding you back, keeping you from moving into your destiny, into the identity that God has
created for you and in you from before time immortal? Are you waiting for Him to give you the
whole plan? Will you move forward if you only see the first step? Perhaps the first of many
steps?
It will take a leap of faith, and chances are very good that you will not see the whole map. Our
Father likes to teach us to trust Him. There's a saying I use when talking with people about
boundaries. "You teach people how to treat you." I think this is the way God also deals with us.
He is teaching us to trust Him, to rely upon Him for direction, for our global positioning.
As I step into my identity, building the business I felt God initiate in me a couple of years ago, I
realize I do NOT have a map for what is next! "What next, Lord?" I ask. "I've moved this far.
I've taken these steps to prepare. Everything I've learned, experienced, and dreamed of is
available to You to use in this venture. Can you please tell me where we're going? Why haven't
You led me to do"-fill in the blank with the latest marketing trend, or scaling option, or social
media blast, or addition or subtraction-"because I see someone with a business like mine
doing it. Isn't that a better way? And profit and growth, Lord? How about that?"
Like the Israelites, I'm a little confused at why He may be taking me the long way around.
But the key is in the Scripture in Exodus 13 and 14. God did not lead them on the road through
the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, 'If they face war, they might
change their minds and return to Egypt.' We do not want to return to the failures or missteps or
slavery of the past. And the turning back, God said, "Pharoah will think, 'The Israelites are
wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.' And I will harden Pharoah's
heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharoah and all his
army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord." Exodus14:3-4.
As I look at my prayer board, I see questions I'm asking God to answer. "What do You want
me to do? Will it work? How will it be done? I need direction, Father. I surrender to You my
need to know the destination. I submit to You to follow your pillars of cloud and fire as You
reveal them to me." I don't know how He will answer, yet. But I know I can trust Him. He has
seen the contents of my heart...the places where I might be afraid and turn back to the old way.
He has seen the obstacles ahead, and He knows that when He overcomes them-whether with a
miracle like the parting of the Red Sea, or the quiet whisper to me to go another way-His fame
and glory will be for my ultimate good.
After God defeats the Egyptians, Scripture says Moses and the Israelites sang a song to the
Lord. "In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you
will guide them to your holy dwelling." Exodus 15: 20 adds, "Miriam the prophet, Aaron's
sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women followed her, with timbrels and dancing.
Miriam sang to them:
'Sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted.
Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea."
A few days ago, I read a scripture that I have memorized and I am declaring daily, to remind me
that God is my GPS; He determines my direction. Psalm 16:8 says, "I have set the LORD
always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken." When I quote it, I do
it twice... first with emphasis on "before" to remind me that He is in front of me, leading me. He
is my pillar of cloud and fire. Then I quote it again, with emphasis on me... "I have set the
LORD always before ME..." to remind me that I am second and He and His ways are
preeminent.
As long as I do life and business that way, I know I my destination will be reached safely and
securely, and it will be for my good and God's glory.
Father,
For me, GPS stands for God's Positioning System. You know the plans you have for me and
my business. You know how it will best be used to advance Your Kingdom, edify Your people,
and provide for my family. I know You are teaching me how to treat You! I will lean in and
learn to trust. Learn to wait for Your instructions. To "turn neither to the right nor to the left"
until You give the go-ahead. Father, it scares me to even say it out loud! Teach me to trust your
perfect love, which casts out fear, and to rest in the security of Your thoughts, Your plans, Your
ways. My life and business belong to You. Bless them according to Your riches. I will set You
ever before ME, because with You at my right hand, I will never be shaken. I love you and
thank you, in Jesus' name, Amen.
