“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways, my ways,” declares the Lord.
Isaiah 55:8 (NIV, 1978)
I grew up in a place and time when having a semi-private telephone line shared with a neighbor was the norm. To compare it to today where we not only have a phone in our pocket, but an “app” that tells you how to get to wherever you may be going seems almost incomprehensible. The arrival of the Global Positioning System has transformed the very concept of travel. Through GPS, we not only can see how far away our destination is, but we are also able to determine how long it will take and a choice of routes to get there. It’s almost as if the adventure has been taken out of the journey.
If you are GPS savvy, you know that two of the optional routes may be colored in gray, but the third (and usually most obvious) is bright blue. The blue road is typically void of tolls, accidents, road construction and has been determined to get us to our destination in the least amount of time. However, there are times when we may opt for one of the gray options because a leisurely drive through picturesque scenery is more desirable.
You don’t have to be a spiritual giant to see the comparison to how we often try to navigate our way through life’s twists and turns. We may tend to view the progression of our life as having multiple predetermined routes–all of which lead to our happiness and fulfillment. For us, the biggest decision we must make is which route to choose. Even as Christians, based upon our limited understanding of God’s ways, we see the gray and blue routes as being the ONLY means by which we may arrive at His will for our lives.
Our choices often bring us to forks in the road where we don’t have the wisdom or the will to go any further. It is then we must surrender our control to a God whose thoughts and ways always lead to life’s best for us. For me, Jesus has taken my life down paths I would not have chosen for myself, but on this journey I have found that His ways always lead to better than I could have ever achieved on my own.
