Original: November 24, 2007
Sisters, OR
32 I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free. Psalm 119:32
For the past four years I have had a GPS (Global Positioning System) in my dresser drawer. It has been there because it took too much time to figure out, at a half a pound it weighed too much, and the topographical map program I bought for it was not compatible. I am not a risky cross country type of hunter anyway and tend to stay in close proximity to main trails. Because I already own maps of the areas I hunts I have chosen to leave the heavy GPS at home and rely on my topo maps, visual land markers, and scouting.
That is, until my New Mexico hunt in November 2007. My cousin Darby started the trip by placing the GPS on his dashboard and it plotted our route all the way to our destination. The plotter feature showed us where we were going as well as being able to compare the GPS to the topo maps for local road closures and such. The deal breaker was using the plotter feature to navigate out of the hills at dark. During a pre-hunt scouting trip, we found ourselves walking out in the dark in country we had never seen. Using the plotter feature Darby was able to track our route by following our earlier tracks and navigated us to a short cut to the main road and the truck. I was amazed that the GPS plotter could actually take us back to the rig using the exact route we took coming in- even in the dark!
I am going to learn how to use my GPS!
The Word of God is our plotter through life.
God’s Word shows a man how to live a pure and holy life by living by His commands (Psalm 119:9-10).
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path” (Psalm 119:105).
God’s Word helps a man navigate through the dark times in his life. With His word as a light that directs the path, a man can navigate through even the darkest of times. The Bible is our light in dark places. I get into trouble when I ignore God’s commands in order to blaze my own trail, but my trail blazing quickly becomes no more than a smoldering heap of ashes when I base them upon selfish choices, secular opinions, pop psychology and human philosophies.
Only by trusting God’s commands as discovered in the Bible will a man be able to know where to go: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
A high goal in life should be to walk the path of God’s commands. But the verse for today does not tell men to walk in God’s commands but to “run” in them. This is critically different than walking in His commands. In order to run the path of God’s commands, a man must become an expert in the Word of God, knowing without hesitation or trepidation exactly where God wants me to walk, no run.
The goal then of every man must be to gain a level of expertise of the Scriptures that through God’s Word he can run the gauntlet of God throughout life. He must know the word better than anyone in his family.
The man is called to lead.
