Redemptive Ramblings

O Lord, I know it is not within the power of man to map his life and plan his course—so you correct me, Lord; but please be gentle. Don’t do it in your anger, for I would die.

Jeremiah 10:23-24 (TLB)

One of the most famous shipwrecks in history, the Titanic, had an obvious navigational problem when it hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean. But the fascinating series of events that led there are less well-known. The navigator, who was supposed to be the First Officer on the ship, was removed from the roster just days before it sailed. He was transferred to another ship that the company deemed needed his services more. Therefore, there was no navigator to advise the captain on board the ship on that fateful voyage. Moreover, the Titanic’s captain had failed his navigation competency exam years earlier, but he had been granted his certification anyway. So there was no competent navigator on the ship when it sank.

According to this verse in Jeremiah, we find ourselves in a similar position. Every one of us has failed the navigation competency exam for our lives. And if we look at how we’ve lived, I’m sure that we can see that it’s true. I have planned to do all sorts of crazy things and mapped out bizarre routes for myself. I’ve sometimes even tried really hard to live those plans out. But Jesus, in His mercy, has always brought me back to the right road.

Shortly after my ex-husband left, I was standing in my pastor’s kitchen, and I told him and his wife that I was done with ministry forever. Not because I believed myself unworthy to minister, but because I was angry. In my anger, I mapped out a course for myself that wasn’t God’s plan for my life. And gently, Jesus began to correct me: a little step this way, here, and move over that way, let’s go here and not go there. Never in his anger, but always in love, he steered me, until one day I was back on course.

We need to keep our navigator close so that when he corrects us, we will hear him and obey. God promises that His ways are better for us and that He will lead and guide us if only we will listen (Isaiah 55:9 and 30:21). It’s so easy to get caught up in our own ways, our own thoughts and decisions. We easily forget, especially when things are hard, that our heavenly navigator wants us to lean on him for guidance so that we can avoid wrecking our lives. Let’s trust our navigator, knowing that only he knows the way through the perilous seas we face, and that he will bring us safely to our destination.