How certain are you—right now—of direction? Try this: can you point straight north? Go ahead, point. Now check your compass app on your phone, and see how close you are.
Knowing your direction makes all the difference
What happens if a ship sets its bearings from Galveston, TX to Miami, FL and then in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico it storms during the night? Winds and waves from the north push the ship’s direction slightly south by only a few degrees.
The ship will end up in Cuba.
If the captain is regularly checking his compass, however, he will be constantly resisting the storm’s direction and steering the ship in the direction the compass shows.
So I ask again, how certain are you—right now—of direction? Your direction.
True north
Here is a place to start. Any compass, by its design, already navigates true north. You don’t have to design or discover true north. You simply need to face that direction and go.
The truths and teachings of God, along with his character, his promises and every one of his thoughts and actions, are timelessly consistent. Like truth north never changes.
“For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does” (Psalm 33:4).
Is your life heading where it should? Do you even know where that is? Is yours a straight path between point A and B, or do you make detours or wrong turns, perhaps to the point you might sometimes feel lost?
If you believe in Jesus and say that your destination is heaven, how equipped are you to maintain that course when the storms of life are pushing you south?
So grab your compass and let’s answer these three questions.
- Are you sure that your compass is accurate?
- Are you checking it regularly?
- Are you making all the right course adjustments?
Stay tuned the rest of this week to explore these questions, and find your truth north in our faithful God.
PRAYER: Dear God, you are my compass. Without my design or doing, you have established yourself as my true north. Because I know you, I know the way. Lead me, guide me, stay with me, and as you do, equip me to show others your way, too. Amen.
FURTHER MEDITATION: Read Psalm 33, about God’s power, God’s faithfulness, God’s amazing love, and how it all exceeds what we see around us.