GPBC Blog

Have you ever been orienteering? It’s an outdoor activity where you navigate using a map and compass to get from a starting point to an end location usually with checkpoints along the way. It was originally used by the Swedish military beginning in 1886 as a training exercise and has now become a competitive activity for people around the world.
 
When I was in college, I had the opportunity, while on a three-week backpack trip, to give it a try. Our group was given a topographic map and told by our leaders that they would meet up with us later at a certain location for that night’s campsite. Yikes! I’m a bit directionally challenged and not great with a compass, so I was heavily relying on my teammates to get us there. Obviously, since I’m writing this decades later, we found our way! 
 
As the Women’s Morning Bible Study has been traveling through the book of Exodus, it made me think of orienteering. Though the Israelites didn’t have a map and compass in their hands to guide them from Egypt to the Promised Land, they were given what they needed to get there. Exodus 13:21 says, “By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud and by night a pillar of fire to give them light.” Wow! And God himself parted the waters of the Red Sea for them using a strong east wind and they crossed on dry ground.
 
In chapter 19, God meets with Moses at Mt. Sinai. Actually, Moses goes up and down Mt. Sinai many times and delivers God’s messages to the terrified people. The Ten Commandments and the Book of the Covenant were meant to help the people understand the holiness of God and how they were now to live as His people. They were further tools designed to help navigate life as the people of God. (Although, I’m so glad we are no longer living under that Law!)
 
We know that we could never perfectly keep God’s laws, especially after Jesus expanded on what it meant to keep them in the Beatitudes. Fortunately, we have been offered mercy and grace for our sin through our Savior’s sacrificial death for us on the cross. Hallelujah!
 
How are you doing as you traverse the tough terrain of life? Are you using the tools God has given you? Though the Israelites spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness getting practice in following directions and learning about God’s character, they finally did enter the Promised Land under Joshua’s leadership. Moses’ words of encouragement to Joshua are recorded in Deut. 31:8: “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
 
Jesus has gone before us to make room for us in his Father’s house. In John 14:4 he reminds us, “You know the way to the place where I am going.” In John 14:6 he says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
 
God’s word and Holy Spirit are our map and compass to get us to our heavenly home. Let us encourage one another as we press onward together!