Scott's Thoughts: Sat Nav

So I purchased a Sat Nav (Satellite Navigation Device). Everyone says you have to own one here.

I figured I could do without one... Until I started driving any distance. This is a country that is like my hometown of Riverside. There is no planning of infrastructure. You just pave all of the cart tracks and call it good.

So I bought a Sat Nav. At first it was exciting. A soft Irish voice telling me to "enter the roundabout third exit, then enter the roundabout". Once I got the hang of it, it made navigating the motorways, carriageways, and city streets a breeze. It even tells me the speed limit of the road I am driving on, my present speed, and dings at me if I am over the the speed limit.

This really is great because it is not like the wide roads of California; you have to be so aware of everything around you. The roads are narrow and people park everywhere which means you are driving on the wrong side of the road half the time; weaving in and out of your lane allowing oncoming traffic passed you, etc. So you pay attention to the road and traffic conditions; and the Sat Nav tells you where to turn... Pretty cool huh?

Well the novelty wears off. You can get tired of the voice, irritated with the dinging, and when you are in familiar territory; you find your self mimicking in a sardonic tone the instructions even before they come. Not only that but you come to realize that that you rely on the Sat Nav and feel that you may not be able to get to any location you have been to without it. I don't know about you but that gets to me because I want to know how to get places on my own.

And not only that but you have to take the time to set up your Sat Nav every time you go. you have to snap it into its holder, plug in the antennae, turn it on, program where you are going. (This means you have to know the address or post code).

Sometimes I just leave my Sat Nav in the glove box.

I was reading in my devotional bible reading this morning Deuteronomy 6:1-9:27. Moses is preparing the Israelites for entry into the promised land. He is telling them what to expect ahead. That the Lord will go before them, that God will give them victory over the inhabitants. That He will fight their battles. He also Made it very clear to them that the Lord was removing these other peoples not because the Israelites were better, or larger, or more righteous, but because of the hatred they had towards Him and their love for idols made with their own hands.

Moses tells them in Deut 7:6-8

6 "For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His treasured possession, out of all the peoples that are on the face of the earth.
7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set His love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples,
8 but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping His oath that He swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt."

Moses also goes on to remind them of their folly, why they had to run laps around the wilderness, the sins of their fathers, and the law of the LORD. He spoke these things as a reminder and instructed them to tell their children and to have the Word of the LORD upon their person, on their hands and forehead. The reason was so that they would not forget The Lord their God when he, Moses, was not with them.

I am sure that they must have gotten tired of hearing the law over and over. As a matter of fact we find that after they find themselves in the promised land, God miraculously conquers their enemies, and they get to settle in their land, that they stop telling their children... and two generations later their is a whole generation that did not know all that the LORD had done for them.

AND SO IT GOES FOR ME... There are times when I figure that I don't have to read the Word. I know where I'm going. I know what it says, or would say to me... I get tired of being reminded that I have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God... I get annoyed with the number of verses I have to read today, I get anxious to get on with the other things of my day, I don't want to take the time to sit quietly before the LORD, Pray, Read, Wait.

Sometimes I leave my Bible on the table.

When I leave my Sat Nav in the glove box I notice that I go over the speed limit more often, I am less confident where I am and where to turn. I find that I am paying less attention to everything else on the road, side streets, pedestrians, and other potential hazards, because I am looking for all of the signs and road markers (which are small, hidden or non-existent here).

When I leave my Bible on the table... I am relying on my own strength to get me through the day. I rely on my own wisdom, I have less confidence in who I am. I trudge on blindly through the day and don't notice the things the Lord wants me to notice... The lost person to pray for, a chance to bless someone by helping them with a door or trolley, opportunities placed before me to be His hands and feet. I am self absorbed and even irritated by those same folks and situations.