Following God’s Directions

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3: 5, 6)

Last summer a symbol came up on my dashboard. I knew what it meant because it had come on in the winter and I had looked it up in my car manual. The symbol stands for "check air pressure." One of the men in my Small Group said it often comes on in VERY COLD weather. Sure enough, when the temperature was more moderate, the symbol went away. SO…when it came back on in June, I thought, “well, maybe it comes on in VERY HOT weather, as well”. Then a friend told me hers had come on and it was a computer problem. Since mine did not go off, I concluded that mine was ALSO a computer problem. I decided that I would have it checked out next time I took my car in for service. And I just kept on driving, by now completely ignoring the message. Then several weeks later I was in the grocery store parking lot and the man who was gathering the carts told me he thought my tire was soft. When I went to look at it, it was almost FLAT and I was planning on taking a trip the very next morning!! As you can imagine, I immediately went to a service station and put air in my tire.

I couldn't help but think about the spiritual applications this little story had to my life. The message came up on my dashboard and instead of taking action, I re-interpreted the message to my own liking. I was "leaning on my own understanding." How often do I do that when God is trying to get my attention and sending me messages loud and clear?? How about you? Can you relate? Are you ignoring the messages He’s sending you?

PRAYER: Lord, thank you for speaking to me through your Word and through your Holy Spirit. First of all, give me the desire to listen and then give me the willingness to take action and obey You, no matter what the cost!