The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts; so I am helped, and my heart exults, and
with my song I give thanks to him.
- Psalm 28:7
When
I got on I-35 Tuesday afternoon, I knew I was in for a rough drive. The
forecast predicted a 100% chance of thunderstorms within the hour, which the
radar confirmed when I pulled it up. And even without the help from the professionals
at Weather.com, all I had to do was look up at the dark clouds looming over me
to see that a storm was coming.
Sure
enough, within 5 minutes thunder was booming and my windshield was being
battered by rain. Even on their fastest setting, my wipers’ desperate attempts
to keep the windshield clear were laughable. I maneuvered around several meek
drivers and got into the fast lane, hoping I might be able to outrun the storm
if I kicked it into high gear. But as the rain got heavier, I knew that plan
wasn’t going to pay off, and finally had to give up, moving my foot over to the
brake pedal. For the next half hour, I and everyone around me went about 50 mph
below the speed limit—unable to see clearly, our only option was to slow down.
That
simple, commonsense driving principle is one that can be applied spiritually too.
Sometimes in life a goal or dream can become so all-consuming that, before you know
it, you’ve lost track of where God fits into your plans. Where He was once at
the center of everything you did, now He doesn’t even seem to be on the periphery.
Filled with ambition, your view of God is obstructed by your own plans.
When
that happens, the flesh cries out to slam your foot on the gas, to simply outrun
your uncertainty. But as satisfying as that may feel for a moment, it’s not a
sustainable course—you’re just begging to crash and burn. The truth is, when
your plans take you somewhere you can’t see God, it’s time to slow down.
In
Psalm 28, David came to God in prayer, confessing that he didn’t know where he
would be without his Lord. He understood God as more than just a crutch, but as
his “strength and shield,” the entire reason for his success. For David, a
victory achieved apart from God would be no victory at all.
We
ought to have the same attitude toward God as what David described. No plan, goal,
or dream is worth pursuing if it is outside God’s will, because nothing you accomplish
alone can compare to what you can do with Him. So the next time you find the vision
for your life becoming tunnel vision, crowding out even your Lord, remember
this: better to walk with God then crash without Him.
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