Those with a GPS know what the title means with nary a description. For those without a GPS, this is the message that displays on many GPS systems when the driver of the car strays from the GPS route.
It's also the image my Pastor gave me for what God does when we refuse to listen to his plans for our lives. (Which she got from another sermon) It's so perfect and so relatable. I got it. Finally.
I used to think that when we didn't listen to God, we got punishment. Punishment that was due us, not unlike a misbehaving child. God is a Father, we are his children, the image logically fits. Except that it doesn't. God never wants us to hurt. He wants us to be strong, faith-filled, loving people who live to worship him. But we are all too often really human. We don't get punished by God for straying from his path anymore than we get punished by our GPS when we stray from the route it has planned. We may be inconvenienced, driving way out of our way. We may assign personality traits to our GPS and say it gets mad at us for straying (like I do mine) but that's mere projection. I don't really think God gets mad at us for not following his path.
God merely recalculates when we stray. He recalculated when Adam and Eve sinned. He recalculated when Jonah refused to go to Nineveh. He recalculated when he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah but spared Lot and his family. He recalculates every single day in every one of our lives. My goal is to cause him to recalculate less in my life.
That's a beautiful way to think of it.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I have a GPS. Hey, you should write a book: GPS for the Soul! Instant bestseller.
LBB- That's a fantastic idea, sadly I borrowed the concept from someone else who borrowed it from someone else!
ReplyDeleteBut maybe if I donated all the proceeds to the church? LOL