At 16, I decided to obtain my pilot’s license. The lessons I liked least were those spent 'under
the hood.' The flight instructor gave me a strange looking plastic device
that went on my head like a cap with an extended tube on the front. This
device did not allow me to see outside of the airplane, restricting my vision
to the instrument panel.
I was learning
how to maintain safe flight if I found myself in weather conditions that obscured
the external reference points normally used. By scanning those dials and
indicators, trusting the data, I was able to fly straight and level and control
rates of climb or descent. He would direct me = "Jerry, let's make a
turn to heading 270 while descending to 3000 feet." It was easier to
do IF I could see the horizon, the ground beneath me, but weather could develop
that would take away those reference points, and my life would depend on being able to fly by instrument.
We are living in a time when many of the external reference
points we replied on for stability are obscured or absent. We are not gathering
with friends, are not in church, are spending more time alone, dealing with a
deluge of uncertainty. It is as if we
have flown into a bank of fog. There is a real threat that we could lose our
bearings, go off course, and perhaps even find ourselves in peril of crashing. In
my instrument training, the instructor warned me, time and again, to trust the
instruments. “Don’t trust your gut!” he warned.
Are you keeping life steady, flying straight and level these days? Or,
are you letting emotions – fear, panic, despair, recklessness – rule?
When we cannot see the future, when the things that kept us
steady are taken away, the choice we must make is to TRUST God, to WALK BY
FAITH, and to CONTINUE to do what's right. The Word teaches us that our Christian
life, in the best and worst of times, is a "walk by faith, not by sight." (2 Corinthians 5:7, NKJV)
Know this - we are never truly alone! It may seem to us in a
time of crisis that no one knows how we feel, or understands that temptation
that is pulling at us, or can grasp how the situation is affecting us. When we
slip into what I call the “Elijah syndrome” (“Lord, I am the only one left, the
only one who is going through this situation.” See the story in 1 Kings 18 and
19 if you do not understand the reference) there is a promise of the Presence
of God that is ours to claim. “God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never
will I forsake you.’ So we say with
confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.’” (Hebrews 13:5).
If you have lost sight, temporarily, of the external
references that keep you steady, trust the things you know from God’s Word. Stay
steady. Love, forgive, trust, refuse temptation, lean on the Lord. I love the
invitation of the Psalm that teaches us to "Be
still, and know that I am God." (Psalm 46:10, NKJV) My flight instructor told me that panic kills
pilots! “Jerry, if you find yourself lost or in weather that you did not
anticipate, do not panic. Trust your instruments and keep your airplane flying straight
and level.” That is sound advice for
life, too.
Here is a word from the Word. "Look
at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked. But the
righteous will live by their faithfulness to God." is
the cry of the prophet, Habakkuk. (2:4, NLT) The book of Hebrews repeats
his declaration, amplifying it for the disciple. "Patient
endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God's will.
Then you will receive all that he has promised. "For in just a little
while, the Coming One will come and not delay. And my righteous ones will live
by faith. But I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away." But we
are not like those who turn away from God to their own destruction. We are the
faithful ones, whose souls will be saved." (Hebrews 10:36-39,
NLT)
_________
_________
(a beautiful song, a confession of our need)
There's nothing worth
more that will ever come close
No thing can compare
You're our living hope
Your Presence
I've tasted and seen
of the sweetest of loves
Where my heart becomes
free and my shame is undone
In Your Presence Lord
Holy Spirit You are
welcome here
Come flood this place
and fill the atmosphere
Your glory God is what
our hearts long for
To be overcome by Your
Presence Lord
Your Presence Lord
Your Presence
Oh God how we love
Your Presence Lord
Let us become more
aware of Your Presence
Let us experience the
glory of Your goodness (Lord)
Bryan Torwalt | Katie Torwalt
© 2011 Capitol CMG Genesis (Admin. by Capitol CMG
Publishing)
Jesus Culture Music (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)
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