God, or Google Maps?

We trust our devices. I mean we REALLY trust our devices. Think about it. When you get in your vehicle to head somewhere new, what do you do? If you’re like most people I know, you put the address in your phone or other device and wait for it to tell you where to go.

Now, you might be like me, and want to quickly scan the whole route, but once you are driving you are simply executing one step at a time.

“Turn north on such-and-such street.” (The virtual person’s pronunciations are often pretty amusing).

“Continue for five miles.”

“Take the left two lanes to exit onto so-and-so highway.” (This is technically not a good idea, since your car should occupy only ONE of those lanes, but you understand and comply.)

“Make a U-turn at the light.” (Yeah, you missed the turn because of signal loss, and now you have to go back to where you should have turned. But you are STILL following the newly recalibrated orders, because you have no clue, and this device knows all.)

Why are we willing to blindly take directions from a collection of micro-circuits and solder connections controlled by a magical binary language that no one understood even at Pentecost?

Because our navigational device knows what we don’t. It has all the mapping information about every road and intersection, every on and off ramp between here and there. It even knows where calamity awaits, where a wreck is clogging a major artery and causing huge delays, and knows exactly how to re-route us to the most efficient path to our destination.

Until the announcement, “You have arrived at your destination,” comes. And this could NOT POSSIBLY be your destination. No, no, no, what happened? Did I punch in a typo? Was it “lane” and not “street” or “avenue”?

We figure out the problem. We correct the input, and…start blindly following directions once again. Why? Because it works. Eventually. Nearly always. Well, once we take out human error.

Amazing.

Not that we blindly follow directions from a simulated person speaking from a device. That’s not amazing, because it does indeed generally work, and it is commonplace nowadays.

What IS amazing is that a REAL person who is NEVER wrong is personally WITH US and speaks to us through a LIVING communication. This Person knows EVERYTHING about the current map, all the previous versions of the map, and every map that ever will be. More than just streets and on and off ramps, he knows every person, every thought, every motive and action. He knows perfectly how every potential and actual event will interact as we travel from here to there, how it will impact us in the near future and ultimately. He himself is both here and there – EVERY here and there. And he doesn’t offer the most efficient route, but rather always perfectly directs to the BEST route, always pointing us to what is GOOD and what is good for us. He knows the right destination, even when we had it wrong.

The amazing thing is that we won’t trust God like we trust Google Maps.

In life, we want more than a glance at the whole map. We want GUARANTEES that we will find security, comfort, and easy going at every turn. God knows about every wreck waiting to happen, every construction zone, even every pothole. But for some reason when the neighborhood doesn’t look right, we bail on God’s navigation and go back to winging it based on our own sense of direction.

You know why we trust Google Maps more? Because WE MADE IT.

Turns out the first command in God’s navigation is “Make a U-turn.”

And all God offers us after that is the same thing our device offers: the next step. Be comforted with his presence and obey his voice.

Will we trust God enough to follow his directions?

Psalm 119:97–104 (CSB) 

מ‎ Mem

⁹⁷ How I love your instruction! 

It is my meditation all day long. 

⁹⁸ Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, 

for they are always with me. 

⁹⁹ I have more insight than all my teachers 

because your decrees are my meditation. 

¹⁰⁰ I understand more than the elders 

because I obey your precepts. 

¹⁰¹ I have kept my feet from every evil path 

to follow your word. 

¹⁰² I have not turned from your judgments, 

for you yourself have instructed me. 

¹⁰³ How sweet your word is to my taste— 

sweeter than honey in my mouth. 

¹⁰⁴ I gain understanding from your precepts; 

therefore I hate every false way. 

Candlelight

So, here is a question you may actually hear asked in our home now:

“Honey, did you turn off the candles?”

And the response may be, “No, they turned off automatically a while ago.”

Yep. We have battery operated fake candles now. We already had a fireplace that turned on or off with a switch – in fact TWO options, electric and gas – and now we have expanded the pseudo-incendiary arsenal to smaller, more versatile units.

I have to say, they ARE pretty cool. And that is a double entendre that really got me thinking.

First, I mean that the ascetic effect is nice. The candles (or the fireplaces) make you feel good just by looking at them. I suppose some subconscious association with ACTUAL candles produces this effect. Add to that the fact that these candles even simulate flickering, especially as the light bounces off nearby objects in the dark. Ah! Such a cozy look!

But in the more literal sense of cool, these candles are more like fake news – looks like the real thing at a quick glance, or out of the corner of the eye, especially across a room, but up close the substance is not all there. They throw light, yes. But where is the heat? In this sense, one might argue the electric fireplace is almost a real fireplace (you know, except for the – well, fire). But the battery operated candle, not so much.

We know candles are about LIGHT (we even use "candle" as term for measuring light), but they are also about HEAT. Before electricity, houses were lit by candles and oil lamps. But did you know that an oil lamp could also heat a room? In cold winters back then, a family might huddle around an oil lamp to avoid freezing!

Now, a single candle wouldn’t be as effective as a lamp, but the principle is there. In a cold, dark world, a real flame is a source of light, and warmth, and to some extent, life. It can also be dangerous. An open flame burns up dry things like old dead sticks or old clothing.

Well, there are great spiritual analogies here. Jesus, the Son of God, is the Light that came into the world. Further, his coming, and his life, were a demonstration of perpetual and perfect love (warmth). More yet, for those who trust him, this Light is also Life. Jesus is salvation from a cold, dark, death. But this Light is also dangerous, for his judging fire burns up wood, hay, and stubble. It burns up old clothes – the things from a Christian’s old life that tend to still cling to him. For those who reject Jesus, this burning becomes eternal judgment.

And we Christians are children of the light.

But are we like Jesus, reflecting the true Light in all his properties (light, warmth, life)? Or are we like the battery-operated candles? Do we turn on our light at desired moments? Is it set on a timer to come on Sunday mornings around, say, 10am? Are we completely lacking warmth and life for those who come close? Are we running on short-lived batteries, or burning an endless supply of oil from Christ’s Spirit? Do we offer a feel-good light that is artificial and safe?

Matthew 5:14–16 (ESV) 

¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”