Finding Your Way

Sometimes I get lost—not so much physically as spiritually. I know what needs to happen each day, but somewhere between breaking up sibling fights, making sure everyone is fed, preparing for vacations, being on vacation, cleaning up afterward, and reacting to whatever else demands my attention, I find myself stopping to ask, What am I doing again?

I need a spiritual compass to guide me through each day. The knowledge of how to use a compass is a lost art. I recently took a crash course in orienteering to teach the children at a church event. The newfound skill led to some interesting spiritual applications.

There are two main arrows in a compass: the DOG arrow and the north arrow. The DOG, Direction of Go arrow, is set by the person to point in the direction of travel. The north arrow, not controlled by the traveler, continually points north, guided by the Earth's magnetic field, like an anchor.

A problem can arise when the north arrow is guided to a stronger magnetic source, like a large building, that overpowers the force of the earth’s magnetic field, which could ultimately misguide the person in the wrong direction.

How does orienteering apply to our spiritual life? In the days before maps, the larger perspective was hidden from the traveler by the unexplored world. In the same way, we cannot predict what mountains and valleys lie ahead. We need our spiritual compass to guide us on life’s journey. We can also allow things like man’s approval, success, or money to distract us from our spiritual purpose and direction.

There are two important aspects of our spiritual compass that we need to keep in check. Do we know our spiritual DOG- Direction of go? We can receive our direction of going from the Holy Spirit, our spiritual guide. When we speak to God in prayer, we can partner together to set our direction of go.

The north arrow is God’s word. God’s promises are reliable to guide us. We cannot control or manipulate absolute truth, but we can trust the Bible to be our truth. The author of Hebrews speaks of God’s promises as our anchor in chapter 6. We, as the heirs of promise, have two references: the truth and hope. God’s promises and God’s oath.

“So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul,” (Hebrews 6:17-19a NLT).

We do not need calm weather to know the direction to travel. Nor do we need to look to the promises of this world to give us meaning or direction. Hold fast to true north- God’s promises and oath.

What has God set as your spiritual direction of go in your life? What promises do you hold onto to keep you on the right path?