I was taking a trip to Oregon; having done this countless times I have my route down with a preferred cut off which takes me from the highway over to the interstate I need. The evening before I left a friend asks if I had tried this other route they take, stated it’s a 10 mile straight shot which would put me on the interstate much quicker. Quicker sounded better so I thought I would try it, after all they sounded sincere in their directions.
The next morning I turned at the designated location. GPS kept giving me a course correction back to the original path I was on; this is normal for a little ways before it recalculates a new course. A few miles into the “straight shot” the main road curved right. The straight road seemed less traveled so I called my friend to inquire about it, I was told to go straight, don’t take the curve. Driving down the straight road I become uneasy as it began looking desolate and foreboding. GPS kept saying turn around. I decide to abandon my friend’s advice and head back for the curved road. After I am on a path that will eventually lead to the interstate I receive a call, my friend looked on maps after my call and was now apologizing for giving me bad advice. They had thought of taking that road but realized they never had: further it did not lead to the interstate as thought. The supposed shortcut actually added extra time, miles, and hardship to my drive. We were able to have good laugh and learned a valuable lesson.
How often in life do we listen to a sincere voice only to discover it was sincerely wrong? Satan constantly tries to tell us all sorts of lies, they may sound good on the surface and even desirable, but are not for our well-being; remember the forbidden tree in the garden. The GPS, like the Bible, wants to show us the right way to go. If we go astray it will give guidance on how to get back on the right path. My friend didn’t intentionally lead me astray, however they are not guilty alone in my waywardness – I still had the responsibility to verify their advice instead of blindly following it. The same thing is true when we receive life or spiritual advice – we need to compare it to God’s word to make certain it aligns, so we are not led astray whether intentionally or unintentionally.
Jesus said, My sheep hear My voice…and they follow Me. The question is – whose voice are we listening to? If it’s not Jesus’, He allows U-turns; He invites us to make a course correction back onto the right path. We were given a road map called the Bible; like any map we need to read it in order to know the way to go.
Lord, open our ears to hear your voice.
Beyond the Silver Coin 