Most of you know that we had a whole crew of sixteen who travelled to Johnstown, NY last Sunday to spend a week loving our neighbors as ourselves – and sometimes even more. What you may or may not know is that each of us had a prayer partner who, in addition to praying for is, discussed specific questions assigned by REACH prior to heading out for the trip. I was blessed to have our own Betty Gyory as my prayer partner and her response to the question about “what is Scripture” is the inspiration for today’s sermon. In fact, Betty came up with the concept of Scripture as a compass, not a GPS.
It was a bit different in Old Testament times. Scripture was not written down and collected back then. And most people couldn’t read, anyway. In Old Testament times, God did sometimes act as a GPS, showing every turn. In our Exodus lesson this morning, we see God going ahead of the Israelites as a pillar of clouds by day and a pillar of fire by night. God did not leave the option of shorter time or shorter distance to them, but led them “around by the desert road toward the Red Sea” instead of through the Philistine country, which would have been shorter. God knew where the traffic of battle was gathering and rerouted the Israelites from the path they might have chosen. It was all very clear, very specific, and alternative routes were not offered or even available.
Of course, the Israelites did manage to get themselves into some hot water anyway, making that golden calf idol and all while Moses was up the mountain receiving what would come to be a vital part of Scripture. Just because the whole book wasn’t finished doesn’t mean God wasn’t providing some Scriptural guidance. As Betty pointed out, referring to the Bible as a compass instead of a GPS is “not to say that God didn’t provide a key or legend to life’s road map; use the Ten Commandments! If you heed them, you’ll stay on the straight and narrow. It isn’t as if He hasn’t provided sufficient road signs about hazards along life’s path; if you break a commandment, you can pretty much count on veering off the road, plowing through a bank of orange hazard cones, and taking a header off of the embankment into a pit that you’ll then have to climb out of.” She does have a way with words!
But contrasting the Old Testament with the New Testament, we get a clearer picture of what Betty was saying about Scripture being a compass rather than a GPS. By the time we get to the New Testament, Scripture has taken shape as a collection of writings that God’s people knew were not only important but to be followed. In fact, they were so focused on following Scripture to the letter that they’d added so much baggage they could no longer enjoy the scenery or the company. The people were focused in on the details of the GPS-like narrative from God and were failing to notice the beauty of the journey. They were so focused on following each turn and looking for the next part of the directions, they’d all but forgotten the reason for the trip. They’d forgotten the relational way in which God had always dealt with His people and were simply following the tinny voice of the machine to a destination the machine couldn’t possibly understand. No side trips, no bathroom stops, no U-turns. Only following each turn with fear of going off course and becoming hopelessly lost in the unmarked wilderness that exists offscreen. The fun and love and joy of being God’s people was all but overwhelmed by the need to follow the turns.
So God sent Jesus to get His people back into balance. God didn’t say the road signs and rules were unimportant, but He gave us some more lanes in which to travel and reminded us why we were on the trip in the first place. We aren’t supposed to just slog through and ignore the journey. The journey is part of the point. And while the path we take does matter, God allows us the freedom to get a little caught up in some of those side trips and interesting stops without leaving us hopelessly lost.
Now I don’t know how many of you have one of those built in compasses in the car, but there’s one in mine. And on my recent trip to Potsdam, I was really grateful to have it. I was driving home with Lukasz and missed a turn his GPS indicated we were to take. Instead of showing me how to go back and pick up that turn, the GPS decided to direct us all the way through the City and down to the Queensboro Bridge. Well, that left us stuck in traffic, which left me totally stressed out. Lukasz tried to help by pulling out an atlas, but it turned out that the atlas didn’t show which streets went which way and we ended up a bit lost. At that point I decided to just follow the compass and head as east as possible, figuring we’d eventually find water and could follow that to a bridge. With a plea to God for help, I set out following a compass and by the grace of God found the Throg’s Neck bridge and then followed the signs for East Long Island. The compass worked where the individual turns of the GPS had led me astray when I missed one simple step.
While I don’t claim for a second to have actually heard Jesus whispering to me to use the compass that day, Jesus does constantly seek us out when we go astray, guiding us back to where we are supposed to go. He even leaves the others He cares for to find individuals who have lost their way. That’s what Scripture is saying in the New Testament lesson for today. Jesus opens the gate for us to go where we will be safe from destruction and then calls to us to follow where He leads.
There was an evening youth group devotion like that on the mission trip. Sheila was on duty that night and broke us into four groups. She had one person in each group close his or her eyes and the rest of us were to guide by voice to a specific location. And just like in regular life, some voices were helpful and some less so. Some voices were louder, some softer, and if the one being led listened to the wrong voices, he could have ended up in trouble and pain. There were some who practiced deception, calling to sheep from other pens – other youth groups – and leading them astray. But for those who listened to the right voices and followed where they were led in loving care, the journey was safe and more or less direct. They arrived just fine at the intended destination.
Jesus wants us to arrive in good shape at the destination He has planned for us, so He calls to us, directing us where to go. And if we listen, we will get there just fine. But God wants more for us than simply getting to the destination. He wants us to enjoy the journey. As Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” He doesn’t want us taking short cuts or cheating our way to the end of the game – that would make us like thieves. Instead, He wants us to listen for His voice and follow through the gate He has opened. He doesn’t say go straight for 400 feet then turn left. He says, “Come, follow me.” And He says it again and again and again until we get to where we belong.
God doesn’t just want us to type in a destination and then leave us to figure it out on our own when we miss a turn. Instead, knowing that we will get turned around sometimes, we will get lost and go astray, He sent His son Jesus to call us back to the right path and to guide us in the way we should go. As Betty phrased it, “God doesn’t sit back patiently, watching us run through a maze like a bunch of mice in a science experiment, bumping into walls until we learn to find our way. Rather, He treats us as His children, knowing and understanding that we will make mistakes, and detours, and errors along the way.” But still He guides us back, calls to us, even leaves other important believers to find us when we are lost.
God gives us the opportunity, the latitude to make mistakes. He allows us to veer off course a bit, but still provides guide rails. There are side roads and even side trips, but as long as we continue on the journey to eternal life, God will use all we have and do to point us in the direction of abundant life and eternal love. A few wrong turns won’t have Him giving up on us. “Many times it is those wrong turns in life that make us who we are; if we are able learn from our mistakes - or our pain - those experiences often give us the patience, resilience, mercy or courage that result from overcoming life’s trials.”[1] It’s not a straight route with no turns or traffic, but if we will listen and follow, we’ll get there for God loves us –loves us enough to come and find us when we go too far astray and to bring us back into the fold.
Betty was right. Scripture is more like a compass than a GPS. But we don’t need Scripture to be a GPS for us. A compass is more than en
- Betty Gyory, “The Bible is a Compass…”