God's Positioning System

Luke 3:1-6

Do you have a GPS unit in your car? Do you have a Garmin, or a TomTom? Do you have one that came installed from the factory? Do you find comfort in that voice that guides you along the way as you drive? Have you come to rely on that voice that comes from your GPS unit to get you where you need to go? Are you, at this point, used to typing in your destination and then listening as that familiar voice guides you through each turn?

Did you know that you can download different voices for your GPS unit? So, instead of the standard voice, you could get your directions from Clint Eastwood, or Marilyn Monroe. If you wanted, you could set your GPS so that it was Darth Vader or Yoda who was guiding you along the way. There are tons of voices you could use if you wanted: John Cleese, Sean Connery, Mister T, Knight Rider, Austin Powers, or Homer Simpson. In today’s world, if you have a GPS, then you could listen to any voice you choose as you navigate your way through life.

In our gospel lesson for today, there is a definitive voice that is about to speak. He’s in a remote place, that the residents of ancient Israel may have needed a global positioning device to find. Before Jesus arrives, it’s this voice that is guiding people to God. In the words of Isaiah, his is a voice that is crying out in the wilderness-and his message for the people is: “PREPARE”!

In a way, you might say that John was God’s GPS in those days. Before there was GPS he was calling everyone who would listen to take to the highways-make the paths straight, cut out the crooked roads, and flatten the mountains along the way. He was guiding people, giving directions for them as they prepared for this amazing thing that was coming their way.

It’s no different today. Where are the deep valleys in your life? What lies at the bottom of them? Where are the mountains that stand in between you and your relationship with God? What are they made of? Where have the roads that were once straight, easy paths, become crooked and treacherous? How did they get that way?
The good news is, no matter how deep the valley, how high the mountain, or how crooked the road, God has given us a positioning system-a way to level the rough terrain of life. God has given us a clear direction-a message that takes the twists and turns that leave us dizzy and disoriented and makes them straight once more.

God’s positioning system has a voice, no longer crying out in the wilderness, but speaking to your heart. God’s positioning system is here, closer than the Garmin that sits on your dash, clearer than the TomTom fixed to your windshield, and easier to use than your factory-installed navigation system. His is the voice that John called the people in the wilderness to prepare for. His is the voice that calls us to direct our lives toward God’s unending love. His is the voice that we will hear in just a few short weeks in a baby’s cries from the manger.

God’s positioning system calls us to drop everything during this season of hope and prepare for a fresh start, a new day, a brand new destination. When John stood in the middle of nowhere and shouted-“PREPARE!”-this is what he was talking about.
God’s positioning system will guide us this season by starlight, to an out-of –the-way town where everything will change forever. God’s positioning system will guide us to the stable beneath the inn-open to the night air, and wide open for anyone who wants to come in and see. God’s positioning system will guide us to forgiveness in the flesh, the birth of possibility, and the child who will lead us to new life.

He brought a message that no one before him, and no one since has dared to share quite the way he did. He set his own positioning system for the places in the world that needed God most. He met people who had been buried under mountains of illness-and he healed them. He walked with people who had been living in valleys of rejection and pain-and he guided them into pastures of peace and acceptance. He met people traveling along roads that had become crooked and twisted without the real presence of God-and he straightened them so that people could see that God was there for them all along.

In the end, he navigated a path that led from the table to the garden, then from the garden to the cross-going to the place that leaves us all lost. He charted a course through the darkness of death, walking through that dark valley guided by God, until he emerged on the other side to stand in the sunshine of the resurrection.
You can’t download Jesus’ voice for your GPS, but you can carry it in your heart. No matter where you go, his words can guide your path-leveling mountains of worry, guiding you through valleys of fear, and straightening the twists and turns of life-leading you straight into God’s undying love.

Where are the places in your life that need to be leveled? Where do you need to be lifted up the most? What turns seem to leave you lost again and again? How can you use God’s positioning system during this season of hope to prepare for the one whose voice can guide you through it all? How can you set your heart to God’s guiding voice? There are so many voices out there to listen to, but only His can get you to where you really need to go. Let God’s voice be your guide through the dark valleys, over the mountains, and through the twists and turns, and before long, God promises-you’ll see the Son.