God Is Not My GPS

“I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is good for you and leads you along the paths you should follow.” Isaiah 48:17 NLT

One of the things I love about my phone is GOOGLE MAPS! I am a stickler for time, so this girl likes to plan. Before I head to a particular destination, I always plop the address in and it tells me not only how long to get there, but how much traffic to expect and alternative routes if I don’t want to sit in backups.

I  remember one Friday as  I was heading out, I did my usual routine of checking the GPS  to see what time I should leave my house so I could  grab a bite eat, and  still get to my friend on time. As I was typing in the address, I could hear God’s Spirit speaking to my heart so clearly. ..”I am not a GPS…”

Ouch! In that moment I knew there was a lesson that God was about to teach me.

As I thought about it, I realized that subtly I had allowed my need to know how long it would take to get to my destination and ways to avoid back-ups creep into my spiritual life. Unfortunately, I had been treating God like a GPS.

You may have heard the analogy that God is like a GPS. And in a sense He is.  He knows where we are every moment of our lives.  And to His children, He has promised:

• To lead and guide (Psalm. 25:9 NASB)
• To direct our paths (Proverbs. 3:5 NASB)

But the hard truth of our journey is although God is directing each step, (unlike my handy GPS), we can’t preview the entire journey from start to finish. We are not always going to know when the next turn will come or the exact time we will arrive to the destination He has planned for our lives. We don’t know how long we will have to camp in a particular season. There may be u-turns, detours, and lengthy periods of just sitting, waiting patiently until the road ahead begins to clear. Until we hear His voice say move.

Although it was a hard pill to swallow I was grateful for His Spirit revealing this to me.  I am learning to relinquish those moments when my need for control craves to know the exact coordinates of my life’s journey. Instead I ask the Lord to help me keep my eyes on Him, not becoming impatient with the unknown. Walking by faith and not by sight.

As a good friend shared me with me, while we don’t control the directions or how long it will take us to get to a certain point in life, we still can trust God and let Him have full reign each step of the way, ensuring that we will be in the best positions possible as we navigate through life.   We may not know when we will get there but we can trust that with Him charting the course we will arrive at the perfect time.

His time.

Until next time & with lots of love!

Keisha