“You will show me the path of life…” Psalm 16:11

Road Maps

Walk His Way Revisited

First Posted May, 2014

Have you ever been heading to a place you’ve never been before? These days, we can print exact directions from GoogleMaps or some other online resource. Get on this road, go that far, turn there, you’ve arrived.

But it used to be that when you were going to a new place, you purchased a roadmap, which was always a huge, folded-up paper that, once unfolded, could never, ever be re-folded into its original size and shape. Fully opened, it could easily take up half the front seat of the car. To make things worse, maps were printed on both sides, and you were inevitably looking at the wrong side just as it was time to decide which way to turn. One could not refer to it while driving, so a navigator was necessary. Either that, or you would have to pull off the road to look at the map again. Tiny print told you the names of roads, cities, areas of interest, and freeway interchanges, thus necessitating a magnifying glass in the glovebox.

The map included too much information. It didn’t just show you your location, it showed you everything in the whole state. Every mountain, stream, road, and school. Every park, lighthouse, and famous anything. It included tiny triangles at every junction, and circles with numbers in them that told you how many miles to the next triangle. There were large dots, medium dots, and small dots, all designating sizes of cities. It looked like a geometry lesson.

Do we treat the Bible, our road map for life, as having too much information? Do we skip the parts we think aren’t important? Do we think that some of it is for some other person, not for us? Are we bored by the patriarchs, genealogies, sacrifices, and laws?

We need a reminder that every word is inspired by God. Eventually, we need it all. A child needs to know certain Biblical truths: to obey and honor his parents, to be kind, to tell the truth, for instance. A teen may need to know that he is an example, even at a young age, and to stay pure. Adults grow into needing other truths (in addition to those we were taught as children): your words prove what is in your heart, suffering perfects our faith, our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. (Yes, kids can know these things, too; just stay with me here.)

The Bible, like a road map, tells us which way to turn when we come to a choice. It shows our destination, the road that leads there, and the roads that don’t. We never know what is around the corner, but God does. He prepared all the information we will need up until we draw our last breath. Let’s read it and be familiar with every bit of it so we are ready to live the life He calls us to.

Lord, You prepared and gave all that we need to navigate our lives—especially our mothers, whom we celebrate today for all the ways they loved us. Help us read Your map clearly. Amen.