I heard a funny story over the radio recently. A group of rowers wanted to undertake a challenge of rowing to another town in record time. The twist was that they would start the task at midnight with minimal illumination. They rowed as fast as they could all night, without stopping for a break. They had their minds set on the goal and they were not going to let a break cost them the record. At the break of dawn, with the first ray of light, they realized the unimaginable: they had not moved an inch. They were rowing with the anchor still firmly in place. 100% effort, but no productivity. Illumination makes a world of difference. It can indeed magnify your efforts.
By your words I can see where I’m going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path. (Psalms 119:105 MSG)
During the days of the stock market boom, quite a number of people that I know had fancy spreadsheets and charts for monitoring stock portfolios. That did not stop their fingers from getting burnt when the bubble burst. Many of the people did not really know the “way” of the stock market. It was just a fun bandwagon to join and everyone got on board blindly.
With benefit of hindsight, there are many wrong steps we’ve taken that we never would have taken if only we sought answers from the One that knows it all before taking the first wrong step . Many of us are stuck with the wrong partner, wrong job, wrong investments and I dare say many ministers have no business being ministers in the first place. Just becuase of failure to enquire of the Lord.
There are so many pointers in the Bible that encourage us to draw near and ask before leaping, but somehow we always contrive not to.
There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death. Prov 16 25 (NIV)
Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” Isaiah 30 21 (NIV)
“I am God, your God, who teaches you how to live right and well. I show you what to do, where to go. If you had listened all along to what I told you, your life would have flowed full like a river, blessings rolling in like waves from the sea. Isaiah 48: 17 -18 (MSG)
Borrowing the words of the ageless hymn; “…Oh what things we often forfeit and Oh what needless pains we bear…” because we simply fail to ask in prayer and seek out the way from the Word. No matter what height we may climb to in life, we can never do without studying our Bibles and praying every day, with a view to becoming more like Christ. If this is not your normal way of life, I can boldly tell you that you are missing and you are most likely going to miss that ‘still, small voice’ when it comes to tell you which way to turn at the junction. There is so much light in the Word.