Today's Devotional

December 2, 2004

Subject:  GPS

Acts 7:24 - "And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:"

Acts 7:26 - 30 "And the next day he showed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?  But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?  Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday?  Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begot two sons.  And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush."

We were driving in Roanoke Virginia for the first time and we had the latest newfangled Global Positioning System (GPS) device.  You know, it tells you where you are and where you need to turn to get to your destination.  Well for all of my good intentions and effort to follow the directions of the ladies voice that is recorded in the device, I made a turn about 400 feet too soon.  I hated it because I had a limited amount of time to eat my meal at the IHOP before the competition began and that's what I was there for; the competition that is, not the IHOP.  An any rate, after the wrong turn, the new directions took us quite a distance out of the way and we eventually arrived at the restaurant, but we were then hurried to get in and eat.  It turned out OK.

Often in life it does not work out as well when you make that "wrong turn."  Such was the case of Moses.  Killing the Egyptian was not part of the path that God had for Moses, but Moses was driving the car and he perhaps turned a little too soon just as I did as I attempted to listen to the "master voice."  

That's why we should remain attentive to the voice of God.  We want to be sure that we are on the pathway that He has selected for us to get to our destination.  With GPS there is a visual display that you can check to ensure that what you are hearing is also what you are seeing on the screen.  God's Positioning System (GPS) does the same for us.  He speaks to our hearts and minds and then His word provides a visual display to confirm what we have heard Him say.  So today don't go around lost.  Use His GPS.  The beauty of His positioning system is that even if you miss one of His directions, He can make purpose out of the wrong turn.    

 Carlen