I greatly admire people who possess a certain sense that I lack, namely, direction. I call them “human compasses” because they seem to internally have the superpower of knowing north from east or south from west. Do you know someone like that? It’s the person who, once you realize you are lost and swallow your pride to ask for help, offers directions, like, “Go to the end of this road, head south for 7 miles, go east until you see the overpass, and turn north.”
The entire time I’m listening to them spout off this maze of gibberish, I’m searching for pen and paper to scribble these foreign words they’re using or sketch out an imaginary map while mentally trying to visualize where it will lead me. I wait dazed, hoping to find someone else who gives directions the way I understand them, like, “Follow this road until you see a red barn with a quilt painted on the side and turn right. Take the road past the blue house with all the yard ornaments and the white fence that needs painting. Then turn left after you pass the gas station with the big flag on the sign.” Those directions are more straightforward for me because I can see actual, traceable landmarks. That’s the right way to give directions!
Occasionally, I’ll learn of a helpful directional hint. For example, when developing the massive United States interstate system, someone was thoughtful enough to label interstates with even numbers that lead east and west, while north and south interstates have odd numbers. How helpful is that! And I feel the proudest when I see a sunset and have a vague knowledge of which direction I’m looking – and only then after singing, “Day is dying in the WEST.”
I just didn’t inherit the directional gene.
Proverbs 16:25 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but at the end of it is the way of death,” reminding me that all of humanity is directionally challenged – lost, believing themselves to be on the correct path to the right destination. Too often, I follow my directions, my own idea of where I think I should be going, only to end up at the wrong place, or oddly enough, back where I started. We laugh about other people driving in circles who finally wise up when they pass the same landmark for the fifth time. Proverbs 16:25 is like that because it’s a restating of the exact words in Proverbs 14:12 as if you’re driving through Scripture and pass a verse you recognize and say to yourself, “Didn’t I pass that sign a few miles ago?”
I even know people who are so prone to losing their way that they use a mapping device to guide them to the same places they go every day.
The truth is, left up to our own senseless sense of direction, any one of us can land ourselves in a desolate field with buzzards hovering. Man’s ways lead to death. But Jesus Christ is the Way! Proverbs 3:5 and 6 remind us to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” Not always is the path easy or pleasurable, but it’s always the right path. It’s seldom the way I would choose, but it’s always the path that leads to success. Though God’s directions may lead through mist or mystery, battle or bruising, when I trust and follow Him, obeying the Spirit’s voice, I know I won’t get lost, and I can enjoy the scenery of a beautiful journey and the fulfillment of the meaning of life.
