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Off Course

  • February 1, 2017
  • Posted by: Carolyn Mahal
  • Category: Devotions
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The path of the righteous is level; O upright One, you make the way of the righteous smooth. Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. – Isaiah 26:7-8
For those who struggle to surrender their lives to God, these are difficult words to accept.  Those people will wonder how it is that simply following God will make their path level and smooth – free of the many troubles that the world can bring.  However, for those of us who know this to be true, we see this demonstrated every day of our lives through the power of God actively working on our behalf.  We don’t control this, nor do we trigger it.  We simply benefit from it through our submission to it.  In fact, the only thing we can do when it comes to altering it would be to lose the blessings that come from God by walking away from His path.
Why would we choose to do that?  Lots of reasons I suppose.  For starters, we sometimes get fooled by the enemy who wants to lead us away.  Satan realizes that he doesn’t need to take us miles and miles off course.  Just a slight turn and we begin a process that takes us away from our intended destination.  His trick is to veer us off course in so subtle a way that we don’t even realize we’re headed the wrong way.  By the time we realize that slight variance, we’ve ventured far from our path.
Consider this: If a plane’s course is just one degree off from its intended destination, it will be 92 feet off course for every mile it travels.  Now I know you’re thinking – so what?  That’s about the length of a basketball court.  But tell me, when’s the last time you took a one mile flight?  Over time that gap will increase.  In fact, after traveling just 53 miles, the plane is a full mile off course.  On a flight from New York to Los Angeles the plane would be over 46 miles off course.
At times different directions look more appealing than the path on which God has placed us.  There have been many times where I have found myself flying back to Detroit wishing the plane could be diverted to Aruba.  That would be fantastic, especially in the dead of winter. After all, warm sunny beaches are appealing.  However, having no job, no home, and no family to share it with are a lot less appealing.  We don’t always make the right decisions: we choose to pursue something contrary to God’s will or we choose to ignore the word God is speaking into our lives.  Either way, we make our journey more difficult.

But what about those times where we aren’t headed to the wrong destination, but rather find ourselves drifting ever so slightly off course?  Even then, God has provided us with the Holy Spirit, scripture, prayer, pastors, and faithful many tools designed to measure our faith progress and keep us on the right course.
We must strive every day to guard our hearts so that we make wise choices regarding our path.  The wisest choice is the simplest choice – to follow God’s plan.  However, the simplest choice is not always the easiest.  I pray that you will miss nothing that God has brought into your life because we know that everything He provides is designed to be a blessing to you.  May your eyes be open and your heart ready to receive every good gift God has in store for you today and for the rest of your life.

 

Devotion by Richard Schumacher

LSEM Director of Programs & Services