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Of Back Up Cameras, GPSes, and...

             I will praise you with an upright heart as I learn your righteous laws. (Psalm 119:7)

Have you ever felt like you couldn’t do anything right, no matter how hard you tried? Have you ever been sure everything you do is somehow the wrong thing, even though you don’t know what it is you’re doing wrong? Have you ever tried to do something, and for some reason it just won’t come out right? Somehow, I don’t think I’m the only one who goes through these things. To give you a current and minor example, I’ve never been good at parking. With a tiny car, it’s not really a problem, but my last car was an SUV and my current car is a small truck. I can’t see the white lines. My turning ratio is larger. The strange thing is that I’ve learned how to back into a parking space better than I can pull into one because I have a backup camera and the computer in the truck superimposes lines that well me (roughly) where the truck is. I’ve learned that when the yellow line reaches the edge of my spot, I stop.

            When it comes to life, we tend to think a little differently. We think we should be able to park wherever we want. Lines? Lines are for other folks who should (of course) leave a large open area in the  best part of the parking lot just for us. We’d never say so, but how many times have we asked or thanked God for a good parking spot? And how often do we consider ourselves cheated when the person who pulls in next to us parks too close to, or over the line so it’s hard to get in our car or to get it back out of the spot?  Sometimes, I’ve parked at edges of parking areas (not necessarily a painted lot) and found that the land beyond where I’ve parked drops off or there’s something there (like a building.) The white lines indicate how far it’s safe to go, and my backup camera lets me see what that white line is, relative to my bumper.

            God’s laws are like the lines on the parking lot. They delineate where to “park,” or how to live in a way that doesn’t result in wrecked lives or lives stuck in ditches. And the law revealed in Scripture is our back up camera, that lets us see where we are and learn to park within the lines. We may not want to bother. It may seem difficult. But ultimately, it makes life work so much better.

Much the same can be said about the GPS system in my truck. It makes getting from here to there so much easier. The “God-Positioning-System” helps us know where we are, and how to get “home.” Praising God for His righteous laws isn’t to give God an ego-trip. It’s because He’s made having a good life so much easier by giving us tools we can use to live life better.

 

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