ADVENT - DAY 19 - NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN

I learned to navigate while driving using the "Old Fashioned" paper map.  To this day I still like to look at the map.  It seals into my memory bank the details of the trip.  Do you remember every gas station had a rack of road maps for sale in the good old days?  The behind the seat holder in my car was full of maps and atlases.  NOW---we are relying on some voice on the in car display to give us directions.  Occasionally --they fail me.  The voice which speaks to me has an English accent, but you can pick what you prefer.  In an effort to keep it simple for stupid, the directions are given one step at a time.  This works well until you get into the "Big City" and have to navigate what I refer to as a mix master.  Basically all traffic converges and is then thrown out in various directions in a very short space.  You enter and then promptly are supposed to go across 4 or 5 lines of traffic and exit.  The paper map studied before leaving on the trip would have prepared you for this nightmare.

We think we are so clever having a GPS in every car and on every cell phone.  What could possibly go wrong.  If you have a couple of days---I will list the failures I have encountered.  Yes, GPS are the latest and greatest in pointing out the direction we should be traveling in, BUT as Solomon so well stated--

"What has been, it is what will be,

And what has been done,

it is what will be done.

So there is nothing new under the sun."

Ecclesiastes 1:9

For you see the Lord God Almighty created GPS systems LONG before we had computers.  Perhaps the first one is the noted here

 "And the Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day

to lead them on the way,

and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light,

so they might travel by day and by night."

Exodus 13:21

At Christmas time, we think of this-

"After hearing the king, they went on their way;

and behold, the star,

which they had seen in the east,

went on ahead of them until it came to a stop

over the place where the Child was to be found."

Matthew 2:9

This has all the elements or today's GPS except there is no voice giving them direction or telling them "You have reached you destination."  All you had to do was follow.  God is still in the business of leading us---but we first must seek His direction---turn on the communication system.  He will lead us---faithfully---all we have to do is seek His will and follow His lead.  The system only works if you activate the communication.