Reflections on the Road: Week Seven

Reflections on the Road

Week Seven

God Pilots our Life

Restoration

Focus Passage: Psalm 23

Focus Verse: Psalm 23:3

Bible Reading: Mark 15-Luke 5

      A little boy was on a place one day that was experiencing violent turbulence (how many of you ever experienced turbulence on an airplane, no fun).  The plane was going up and down and all over the place.  The lady sitting next to the little boy was terrified.  She couldn’t understand why the little boy was playing and having fun in the midst of such trouble.  After a while, she just couldn’t stand it any longer.  “Little boy, please stop it.  Stop having so much fun.  How can you have this much fun when the plane is going through all this turbulence?”  The little boy put his hand on the lady’s hand and said “Lady, my daddy is the pilot.”

      Flying is one of my least favorite things to do in the world.  One of the things that scared me about surrendering to missions was my fear of flying.  I've flown dozens of times and I'm still not at peace with it.  It's hard because when you fly you have no control over the speed, destination, etc.  Once I buckle up I have to trust the pilot.  The hard thing is that I don't get to talk to the pilot.  I hear him over the intercom and maybe see him at the end of the flight but I don't actually have a relationship with the pilot.  Life is a lot like a plane flight filled with lots of turbulence and we need to have a trustworthy pilot to direct our lives.  Psalm 23:3 says "He restores my soul."  There is a word repeated at verbatim, HE.  We often think we can pilot our own life but verse three makes it clear that God is the pilot.  Notice the first destination the pilot flies us to: restoration of our soul.  Think of restoration, you don't restore something that is in perfect condition, you restore something that is damaged, broken.  We are broken and damaged people.  Our sin broke (and still does break) us.  We are like Humpty Dumpty, no one can put us back together again.  We need someone to restore us, to put us back together spiritually.  Only God can do that.  The word restore also means to bring back.  Isaiah 59:2 says "but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God."  Sin separated us from God but our great pilot came to our rescue.  He crossed the great distance to bring us back to Him!  God restores us who are seeming unrestorable!  He crosses the widest ocean and the highest mountain to bring us back to Him.  The sheep can not come home on its own initiative, it (and we) need a shepherd to bring us back.  He did that through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.  

Reflections on the Road:
Has your soul been restored?  Have you been brought back to God?  You can't save yourself anymore then flapping your wings can cause you to fly.  If you have trusted Jesus rejoice this week in your salvation.  If you aren't sure take the next few days and  ask yourself 'am I sure I'm saved?'