Message summary: We want to encourage all our fellow believers today. Whether you are in a place of comfort and stability or in transition and shifting, keep an ear tuned to hear His voice. His daily dosage of direction is a divine GPS for life which is always available, always reliable, and  always keep you on the right path!

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“You will make known to me the path of life” (Psalm 16:11).

Here in Lancaster County we treasure our covered bridges. Lancaster County has the most covered bridges in Pennsylvania and ranks second in the nation with nearly 30 surviving covered bridges. I have been through most of the covered bridges in the county in the course of our nearly 25 years we have lived here. Today's lead photo is the fourth bridge I passed through last Sunday when I was on the "Covered Bridge Classic" bike ride.

It's the Hunsecker’s Mill covered bridge, the longest covered bridge in Lancaster County and the only one that is unpainted. It also has floorboards that run from side to side (rather than end to end), offering a unique crossing experience, especially the distinct clatter of a horse and buggy going through!

Years ago I was at a safety meeting for service truck drivers at JK Mechanical. The drivers use GPS and Ken, the service manager, shared an interesting story encouraging them to use common sense as well as the GPS.

An out of state truck driver attempted to drive an 18 wheeler though the Hunsecker’s Mill covered bridge. It seems he was relying on his GPS while ignoring both the weight and height restrictions clearly posted on the bridge, in addition to using common sense! Thankfully the bridge held up as he managed to get through it but as he exited there was a dip in the road and he got stuck as seen in the photo from a news report. He was also 12 tons over the weight limit!

So today let's consider a lesson from GPS. Brooksyne often uses GPS but most of the time I would rather just find out where I am going and how to get there beforehand the old-fashioned way by eyeing the route out on a map!

Hopefully the trucker learned that you really need to use some God-given directional sense when using the GPS. The dirt path across from our home is still on the records as a public road called “Meeting House Run Road”, although it’s been abandoned for many, many years and is now the walking trail we often write about. Several times a delivery driver has stopped for directions and told me their GPS directed them to take “Meeting House Run Road” as they gave a perplexing look while pointing toward the narrow trail between rows of corn.

Our text today almost sounds like the description of a GPS, doesn’t it? "You will make known to me the path of life” (Psalm 16:11). We might consider this a divine GPS for life!

One aspect of using GPS is that it provides the directions step by step. If you follow it you don’t know your next turn till shortly before it’s time to make the turn. Essentially it provides doses of information as you need them. (Of course you can also look at the entire route if you want.)

There’s a spiritual application here, of course. We may very well want directions from the Lord long before He gives them to us. It would be interesting if, following our birth, we received not just a birth certificate but a life map. The path of life would be highlighted from our first breath to our last.

But of course this isn’t the way our life’s journey is laid out except maybe in an old rerun of Twilight Zone. That would be a robotic existence, not a faith-based, day by day journey where we refuse, neglect, or choose to walk in the ways of the Lord. Thankfully, we do have a life map to follow since the Bible is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.

The Psalmist expressed his assurance to God: "You will make known to me the path of life". As we walk this pilgrim pathway we get daily doses of God’s leading. All through our lives we need to remain sensitive to the leading of the Spirit and providential ministry opportunities that may spontaneously open up.

James captures this sentiment. "Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that'” (James 4:13-15).

God directs our lives each day, whether it’s a day of routine or whether it’s a day(s) of upheaval. But it’s during those times of upheaval that we often have difficulty hearing His voice and knowing which step to take next. Uncertainty looms over us and we want to make the right choice or give the proper response.  How good it is when we take our concern to the Lord and hear His voice in our spirit directing us, "This is the way, walk in it” (Isaiah 30:21).

God has certainly not been silent and actually the sense of His faithfulness increases during times of uncertainty. I suppose in part that’s due to the way we lean on Him, which is just what He wants us to do!

We want to encourage all our fellow believers today. Whether you are in a place of comfort and stability or in transition and shifting, keep an ear tuned to hear His voice. His daily dosage of direction is a divine GPS which is always available, always reliable, and always keeps you on the right path!

Be encouraged today!  Hebrews 3:13

Stephen & Brooksyne Weber