Drifting out of Lane

After my faithful Prius was flooded in a storm, I spent days attempting to resurrect it. Finally, I admitted defeat to the Insurance company and purchased a newer Toyota Corolla.  Although we weren’t planning on taking on car payments at this time, we were grateful God led us to an otherwise inexplicably good deal. [Even the salesman, a wonderful Christian man, wasn’t sure how it had been priced the way it was.]

With one of the standard features, you can set up a warning, should you start drifting out of your lane.  [It also has an emergency stop feature if you get too close to another car.] It’s easy to get distracted when you’re driving, as we all know. If you’re driving at night after a long day or on a long trip, it’s also common to get sleepy.  I’m delighted to have these warnings available on my car.

I wish it were so in the rest of our lives. What if we had built-in antennae which beeped when we started drifting away from God?  It’s not the radical turns but the slow drifts that are the problem for most of us. Our minds are elsewhere, not focused on the road. Perhaps we’re fiddling with the entertainment possibilities, or we’re picturing in our mind’s eye what our next step should be to find success at work. Maybe we’re pondering pursuing a relationship (possibly one God’s Word has warned us about). There are a myriad of physical, mental, and spiritual distractions which can draw us off the road God designed to truly fulfill us and accomplish the purposes and plans He has for us.

The good news is that He does, indeed, give us spiritual antennae....the Voice of His Holy Spirit within us.  He lovingly prompts and warns, guides and directs.  The problem comes when we choose to ignore those inner promptings.  If the warnings are directly stated in His written word, we’re just
being rebellious in order to get what we think we want.  However, there are so many situations in our lives that are not as clear cut.  We sense there’s danger, but the area is grey enough for us to keep moving in that direction anyway, because that’s where our ‘flesh’ wants to go. Or perhaps the intellectual appeal is great or our own logic so compelling that we find ourselves in a whole other lane than we planned.

That lane is a comfortable one because it is the road most travelled, if I can borrow a turn of phrase from Frost. Everyone seems to be going that way. It is not strange and challenging territory. No one is staring at us wondering what in the world we’re doing and why. GPS is happy with us. She doesn’t keep telling us to make a legal U-turn and go back the other way.

Staying in God’s lane will ultimately and absolutely prove the best road, but that doesn’t mean it’s an easy one to travel. There seem to be more potholes and things lying in the road that must be avoided. In fact, sometimes the way ahead has only one lane, and it is foggy up ahead.  Don’t worry. Be assured that when we set our destination in line with His, He will send His own special form of alert when we’re starting to drift.  We just have to heed it quickly to avoid a crash.