The first time I had a lovely electronic voice directing me was in my brand new 1986 Maxima sedan. Her voice was calming and assuring. She told me several very useful things like, “buckle your seatbelt, please,” and “a door is open.” She also told me when lights were left on or the brakes were set (anyone remember setting the brakes in a car??). We didn’t have any voices in our next car, a Chrysler mini-van, only annoying lights, loud dinging tones, and cars that wouldn’t start if you ignored those error messages. I missed my polite lady.
And then came the advent of GPS in my car. My polite lady was back. I named her “Gypsy” because we wandered all over the planet together and she keeps me right on track! Do you remember that ad a few years back when a guy in a car made a right hand turn right through the plate glass window of a store because his GPS had said “Turn right………..in 50 feet?” Well, I am happy to say they have corrected that problem. My Gypsy says, “In 50 feet turn right” so I know it is not immediate. My new Gypsy Nuvi now also tells me the name of the street where I should turn right and bless her little heart, yesterday she even let me know that I was not on the road. Well, of course I wasn’t, I was in the middle of the self-storage unit area. Furthermore, my Gypsy shows me roads and road names, water, and watering places, hospitals, shopping, car repair service and a host of places I never even knew existed. When traveling in a metro area she will even give me traffic alerts and show me how to detour around them. She is simply the best. I feel safe and secure with her guiding me as we wander together.
I often wish that my Christian life could be so ordered and so directed. I wish the Bible would say things to me like, “and this passage means that you should do…fill in the blank,” or maybe “the kingdom of God is within you means…fill in the blank.” But alas it doesn’t and so I am often left to wonder things like “What would Jesus do?” or “What did Jesus mean?” And when I ponder these things I also wonder if maybe what I’ve discerned is wrong? It can be so confusing from time to time. If only I had a Bible Gypsy!
And then I recall my favorite Psalm 62 verse 1 – “For God alone my soul in silence waits; from God comes my salvation.” In silence my answers will come. Silence is hard for me. And what if God won’t let me in on the secrets of the universe or the words of the Gospel? Or, heaven forbid, I don’t understand the message? I could wander around in spiritual ignorance forever. It is at these times that I hear my spiritual Gypsy saying, “Trust in God…in 50 feet turn right!” AMEN!