Wednesday, February 7, 2018

The Sextant

          Have you ever had the feeling that you were lost and didn't know which way to go to get home?  For the most part, I haven't been in that situation, but I have been in situations where I had no idea where I was were it not for a loudspeaker of the captain's voice telling me where we were.  I was on a destroyer in the South Atlantic while on a cruise with a navy band consisting of 13 instrumentalists and a leader.  When you are out in the ocean, there are no road signs, no trees, in fact, no roads at all.  There are no landmarks in the distance and all you can see is miles and miles of water that just fade into the horizon.  The captain would come on the loudspeaker every now and then and give us an update and other than that, the only one who knew where we were was the man with the sextant who would be out on the quarter deck in the middle of the night looking at stars.  Proverbs 3:5-6 says, " Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." 
     We have a Captain with us now that not only tells us were we are, but tells where we have been and where we are going.  He doesn't come up on a loudspeaker to inform us of our position but does tell us in His Book where we are and where we are going.  He guides us all along in our lives.  In our spiritual lives, we need to trust our Captain with our destination.  Our Captain is of course, God Himself.  There is no doubt that we need to trust the LORD with all of our heart and certainly not to look for any understanding that comes from us.  Being in the woods is somewhat like being in the middle of the ocean.  I was in a forest once while hunting and got turned around.  There was no trail to speak of and a lot of trees that, to be honest, all looked to be the same.  The sun was hidden, so that was no help.  I was lost and finally made it to high ground to see where I was and where I needed to go.  God does that for us in our spiritual lives.  We find the guidance that we need in His Word.  The Bible becomes our sextant and we have no need to follow the light of the North Star, but follow the Light of the Savior in all that we do.  So, praise God today that He is still in the business of guiding us.  He will always direct our paths.

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