Better than mapquest!

This week's memory verse: 
"I will instruct you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you." -- Psalm 32:8

Every week in KidsPraise, we show the kids why the Bible is important in their lives. Each week we give them an example of what the Bible is like. One of those examples...The Bible is like a map...it shows us the right way to go; it gives us directions.

In my work at the public library, many times I deal with people preparing for a trip and needing a map to get to where they want to go. We have road atlases, county and state maps...and often times we use MapQuest online to make them a travel path. The problem with MapQuest...sometimes it doesn't give the FASTEST or best route. It sometimes directs you to go the LONG way. You still get there, but it may take you a lot longer.

When we go the Bible for directions in our lives...it doesn't provide shortcuts either. What it does is give us  is help for the many detours and rocky roads we face every day that threaten to throw us off course. And don't we seem to have a LOT of those? 

The Bible is God's way of communicating with us. I believe that He breathed life into the words of the authors of each book...pulling together the instructions and prophecies and stories so that even though it was written over HUNDREDS of years and by MANY DIFFERENT men...it is cohesive in its message and is as viable and valuable to us today as it was thousands of years ago. 

Many argue that the instructions are for people of a different time, not for us today. And still others argue that you can take verses of the Bible and make them say anything you want... Well, if God is as powerful as I think he is...than I think he can make the Bible say to EACH of us EXACTLY WHAT WE NEED TO HEAR AT ANY GIVEN MOMENT...IF we open our hearts and are willing to listen.

Psalm 25:4-10 says Show me your ways...Teach me your paths...Guide me in your truth.

Those verses go on to say that God is good. He instructs sinners (all of us) in his ways. He guides the humble and teaches them his ways. All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful to those who keep his commands.

That means we have some responsibility in this...we have a role to play in the teaching that comes from God. We need to humble ourselves and be willing students of God's ways and follow his commands. 

Psalm 119:9-11 says that God's word lights our path. We must:
* stay on the path to purity
* seek Him and follow his commands
* hide his word in our hearts

This means we need to read God's word every day, seek to understand him better by reading God's word and through prayer. We are not alone in the process...we just have to be willing to try...willing to open our minds and our hearts to the possibility that God is there, ready to teach and guide us. God gives us the map...we just have to follow it!