Straight Paths And Crooked Routes And Trusting God

Our youth group girls love it when our evening begins with, "Ok, we need one of you to come up here and close your eyes."

Maybe love is a strong word. 

The Blind GPS game we opened with this week required one of them to close their eyes while another talked them through a floor full of obstacles. The provided map had a route drawn on it, so the "navigator" could talk the "blind driver" through the route.

Added bonus: the rest of us were shouting opposite directions, moving around the room making odd noises, laughing hysterically at the results, and generally being a nuisance.

The girls did magnificently and made it through the obstacleswith only one crushed whale, a bumped Christmas tree, and a flipped-over rainbow ... you had to be there.

Using Proverbs 3:5-6 as our text for the night, we drove our way through some crooked routes in life, the straight paths God wants for us, and letting go of our need to constantly be in the driver's seat.

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:5-6

Keeping the driving analogy for the moment, there are so many distractions along the highway of life that we have to purposefully listen for God's voice so we'll know the path He wants us on.

Are you trusting in the Lord, handing Him the steering wheel? Or are you white-knuckling it every inch of the way?

Have you trusted Him with all your heart, not settling for half-trust or half-control? God doesn't do co-pilots. Either we trust or we don't. There's no partial-trust credit given.

Are you focused on your own little portion of the map, fixated on only what you can see right now? Or are you trusting that because God can see the entire map (He has already been all the way down the road and arrange the trip for you) He's got it under control?

Are you acknowledging God's part in everything you do, not just the Sunday and Wednesday stuff? That step means inviting Him into your relationships your friendships, your decisions, your stress, your drama, your plans, all of it.

As you think through these questions, please remember that having God direct your path doesn't mean that the trip will be easy. It simply means it will be right. God's path avoids the potholes of regret, guilt, emptiness, having to fake happiness, and take sin detours. It won't be a perfectly perfect ride, but we can trust God to get us their His way and with His results.

My prayer for all of us today is that we'll willingly hand over the steering wheel of our lives and invite God to take complete control. It's not easy to trust Him with the planning, navigating, driving, and looking out for other drivers, but the results are nothing short of miraculous. We'll reach our destination - heaven - with great memories of a journey that satisfied our souls and brought us into closer relationship with Him. 

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