"Road Closed During the Winter Season"
I've seen these signs when I have gone on a drive through the country a few times since arriving in Hokkaido. Some of the smaller roads just aren't worth ploughing in the winter. Yesterday, my friends and I were driving home from the Royce Chocolate Factory in Tobetsu, and we stumbled upon one of these signs unexpectedly. The GPS had us cutting through some straight, Hokkaido, country roads to get to the main highway and insisted that we go straight at a four way intersection. Except.... there was no road... just a sign like this with tons of snow. One of my friends said we should go left, the other said we should go right. Ultimately, it didn't matter which direction we went becasue we knew the GPS would redirect us. I suppose we could have parked the car and set up camp until spring when the snow would melt off, but that just isn't realistic. Have you ever done that in life though? Am I the only one has trusted the GPS or Google Maps more than God in the past?
Have you ever been traveling on a straight road in life with everything clear in view, attempting to follow God's GPS- His Word, until you came to a dead end like this? You assumed you should keep heading in the same direction in life; afterall, God hadn't indicated otherwise. But some trauma or trial may have suddenly shaken things up on you. You can longer proceed on the same, straight road. You're faced with a decision:
1. You could stand there and wait for the "snow to melt." Instead of accepting that the snow is in your way, you could get angry at God or just stand there and feel sorry for yourself.
2. You could turn to the left or to the right. Although the GPS, God's Word, may shed wisdom as to which way you should turn to get yourself back to the main highway of His will... it isn't always crystal clear to us. You may not really know which way will get you back to the main highway faster, but the bottom line is... You have to do something or the GPS won't redirect you. You have to pick yourself up and move forward.
Proverbs 24:16
For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again...
God won't redirect us if we just stand there, refusing to move on from the past. You have to move forward, either left or right. Once you pick yourself up, God will redirect you to the main highway of His will.
Isaiah 43:18-19
Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing...
These words were given to Isaiah by the Lord before the Jews were even exiled to Babylon. He was looking ahead at them already in exile when he spoke this. The Lord says earlier in verse 14: "For your sake I have sent to Babylon and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans..." The Lord, the Holy One of Israel, had a plan to deliver the Jews before He even brought them to Babylon! God promised through the prophets that the Babylonian exile wouldn't last forever. They are told not to "remember the former things." Instead of dwelling on the past when God "shook things up" for them... Instead of sitting there, waiting for the pile of snow to melt off... being angry at God for bringing them to Babylon... They should put their perspective on how God says, "Behold, I will do a new thing." We know from reading the book of Ezra that many Jews chose to stay in Babylon even after Cyrus and Artaxerxes made the decrees to let the Jews return. These Jews missed out on the wonderful "new" things God had in store for them because they weren't willing to take a leap of faith. They weren't willing to drive into the unknown and let God direct them to the main highway.
We shouldn't stand there waiting for the snow ahead to melt with the coming of spring! God already has planned a detour before we even knew we would come to that dead end! He has something better. He will redirect us if we let Him! He wants to use us for His praise, honor, and glory.
Isaiah 43:21
This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.
No comments:
Post a Comment