You know about the technical GPS, regularly use it to find your way around, and let it take you home. That last part is my favorite use for the GPS, aka the Global Positioning System. After I have run all my errands, I issue a curt voice command to the GPS, “Take me home.” This time, though, our GPS is God’s Positioning System, and it does much more than the Global Positioning System. What?
You heard that right. It is God’s strategy to make a prime minister out of a prisoner. You remember him? It was God’s positioning system that lifted Joseph out of the dungeon and made him second only to Pharaoh. Several generations later, God was still deploying His GPS to promote David from a shepherd boy to the king of a nation.
That means that God’s positioning system is always on, actively seeking whom He may lift higher. What makes that so exciting is that what He did for Joseph and for David, He can do for you and me. You see, that higher position you got from your office originally came from God. Your boss could not have exalted you if God were against it. That is what Psalm 75.6-7 says.
God Chooses Whom To Promote
Since not all believers experience this sort of promotion, there must be a selection strategy, a trigger to God’s promises. For instance, the regular GPS will only direct you if it is installed in your vehicle. In the same way, God’s positioning system will not work for you unless God is installed in your life. Because God is in Heaven and we are here on earth, the only way to install God in your life is through His Son, Jesus Christ. Have you installed God into your life?
If your answer is negative, you can stop reading right now, or else, install Him by inviting Jesus into your life so He can dwell there. With that hardware in place, the software of God’s positioning system will work and direct you. It will often lead you to higher positions, as with Joseph. His selection of Joseph was not random.
God promoted him because Joseph put himself in line for divine attention with integrity and faithfulness. David, too, who was faithful in a little, got a lot from God, promoting him from shepherding sheep to shepherding an entire nation. You know that David added praise to his service to God and His creatures.
Recalculating
The Bible itself claims to have been written for our example, so that we can learn from its major characters. If we learn from those God promoted, God’s positioning system will also work for us. Am I faithful, not only in church matters but also in my secular calling? The book of Proverbs asks a similar question. “Do you see a man diligent in his work? He shall stand before kings and not before mean men. That is because God’s positioning system will locate and promote him.
Long before the technical GPS became mainstream, we lived in an advanced country where it was already in use. It used to crack me up each time it recalculated, because it meant I had missed my turning, or that I was turning too soon. Later, when I was more familiar with the roads, I could ignore it, and now, I override its voice and choose my route
I wonder. How many of us mature believers are so familiar with God that we ignore God’s positioning system? We even override His voice, assuming that we are somehow wiser. In that case, the Bible is clear. In Psalm 75:7, it says, “But God is the Judge: He puts down one, and exalts another. The believer who ignores or overrides God’s positioning system sets himself up for putting down.
God’s Positioning System Is Better than GPS
Earlier, we boasted that God’s Positioning System does much more than the technical GPS. Let us now unpack that statement. The other day, I wanted my GPS to take me to a certain destination. I knew from experience that the location was not far from where I was, but “sponsored results” tried to confuse me.
“Sponsored results” popped up (you know how annoying those can be), and ‘helped’ me to enter a different destination. Thank God I noticed before I started driving, or I could have wasted time and effort, and still ended up at the wrong place. Please take note of that last sentence. Do you know your destination for sure, or are “sponsored results” trying to change your focus in life?
We know, or should know, that Heaven is our destination, but unless you pay attention, all sorts of pressures will try to change that for you. The change from IKEA (where I needed to be) to City of Furniture (a sponsored result) reminded me of Heaven. If I had not been attentive, imagine the mess I would have been in. I could have ended up at the wrong destination.
If you are a pastor, here is a word for you. The most forceful, even invasive, “sponsored result” is the church organization. Unless you take great care to separate church from Christ, you may end up at the wrong destination. Sadly, many believers are not paying attention and will likely end up in the wrong place. It will not be because God’s positioning system (GPS) failed. They will end up in hell because they failed to notice when the world system changed their destination. That is why the Bible asks us to watch and pray. Note that the watching comes before the praying. Do not take up praying without first watching, so that you do not end up in hell.
Maranatha!
