"How to Avoid Back-Seat-Drivers"

Nehemiah 9.26-27a

Holman Christian Standard Bible

“But they were disobedient and rebelled against You. They flung Your law behind their backs and killed Your prophets who warned them to turn them back to You. They committed terrible blasphemies. So You handed them over to their enemies, who oppressed them.”

My wife and I were driving after dark to a party one night before the days of GPS. I thought I knew the way, but I was wrong. Help, in the form of a map, was at my fingertips but I, of course, did not require a map. I was confident (proud) I could get to the party under my own guidance and was too busy (lazy) to plot my route with the use of a road atlas. After I became hopelessly lost, my dear wife offered some kind (direct) advise: “Why don’t you stop and ask for directions?” I hate those words.

Our final destination is a party in heaven. We drive through life in the dark thinking we know best how to get there and refusing to admit we’re lost. If we fail to seek truth from God’s road map (the Bible), it will take us longer to get to the party. Because He still wants to help us, God sends prophetic road signs and even a few back-seat-drivers. Hopefully we listen and avoid dead ends, wrong turns, and car wrecks along the way.

We encounter truth in two dimensions. The quiet, hidden and passive dimension is an untapped resource. This truth must be sought and discovered. First dimension truth is contained in the Bible and embodied in the person of Jesus Christ who said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14.6). This is invitational truth offered gently by a loving Lord about whom it is said, “If you seek Him, He will let you find Him” (1st Chronicles 28.9; 2nd Chronicles 15.2 ).

Our second dimension experience with the reality of what is true is blatant and demands an immediate response. It contains the truth (whether you believe it or not) and delivers the truth (whether you want it or not). It’s a fully avoidable, last resort, prophetic truth taking the form of back-seat-drivers and harsh circumstances designed to help us to our knees in humble admission of personal limitations.

God is relentless about truth delivery because He loves us. Yet, God’s people have always rebelled against both dimensions of truth:

• The “law” and the “prophets”
• The road map and the back-seat-drivers
• The Bible and circumstantial realities

The ancient Jews were forced to hear from the “prophets” because they did not pay attention to the written “law.” If I don’t want to hear from back-seat-drivers (and I don’t), I should consult the map. If I want to be a first dimension Christian (and I do), I’d must find the truth in a Spirit-led exploration of the Bible before it crashes down upon me.
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The black and white image "Seek Truth" is by eyepanda whose very interesting photography may be seen at http://s182.photobucket.com/albums/x312/eyepanda/.