On Making U-Turns

I have absolutely no sense of direction. None. But I like to pretend that I do. You see, I still live in the same city where I grew up; so I think that I know my way around. But I really don’t. Just ask my sweet husband.

In fact, the little lady that lives in that map app on my phone — her favorite thing to yell at me is, “Make a U-turn!” And when I ignore her persistent warning, she finally gives up and says things like, “You will be unable to reach your destination if you continue in this direction.” What?

“No little map lady”, I tell her, frantically searching the area for a familiar landmark, “You are so wrong! I will totally reach my destination going this way! I know things! I have lived here forever! I will get there this way!”

But then. Well, I can’t reach my destination headed in that direction. So, yeah, I have to turn around. Whatever. Directions are so overrated.

I probably spend more time arguing with the very piece of technology that is made for navigating than I do listening to it. And therefore, I have to make a lot of U-turns.

The problem here is that I don’t really trust that little map lady in my phone. I think that I know better.

Me. I know this stuff. Me, who still can’t remember which highway it is that goes through the middle of downtown Atlanta. Me, who looks at my husband like he is speaking a foreign language when he tells me to go west. West? What? I think that I know better than the phone with its specific map reading technology. Yeah. Make. A. U-Turn.

And I live life a lot like this too. I push forward into many of my days certain of knowledge I do not have. I pray. I ask God to guide me, but then I treat God a bit like the little map lady in my phone. Thanks for the instructions, but I got this.

Maybe you know what I am talking about? Ever ask God for directions but then just proceed the way you want to anyway? Ever  wonder why you never get there? I think I might need more than just a lesson in map reading.

The Bible reminds me, though, that this is not a new problem. God’s chosen people, the Israelites were experts at ignoring God’s direction. They loved to pretend that they could do it on their own. Until they ran into seas they couldn’t move or armies they could not defeat.

Yet, it is not the Israelites refusal to listen that gets my heart when I read these stories. I can totally relate to that. It is God’s refusal to give up on them that pushes air into my soul and stops me in my directional-less run. From the laws that he gave to Moses on Mt. Sinai to the prophets he sent to proclaim it in their city streets, he never stopped coming after them.

“O that their hearts would be inclined to fear me … so that it might go well with them…” (Deut. 5:29). “Return to me, declares The Lord Almighty, and I will return to you” (Zechariah 1:2). “Rend your heart and not your garments and return to the Lord your God” (Joel 2:13).

God pursuing these holy, chosen, stubborn, arrogant people. These people who would sacrifice to golden calves, ignore his warnings and run far from him. Yet God would not let go; they were his.

He went seeking their hearts; seeking their eyes; longing for them to turn around and see him; longing to lead and to love them.

In the Bible it sounds like this: “How can I give up on you Ephraim? How can I hand you over Israel? For I am God and not man– The Holy One among you. I will not come in wrath. They will follow the Lord” (Hosea 11:8).

And his passion for them steals my breath. But those are just stories, right? That’s not for us. We aren’t walking through desserts or fighting off foreign nations. We don’t need the cloud by day or the fire by night to lead us. We have map ladies in our phones. We don’t need the manna and the quail. We’ve got Whole Foods. We know where we are going.

Right. We know, and we have. This is our race to run and we are sure of our success. So we stop listening. Because, really, God’s not going to come after us.

I do it daily; run in my own direction until nothing seems familiar and I’m trapped in a maze I have created. You’ve stood there too, right? The end of your rope with your day, your boss, your kids, your finances, your spouse. You’ve stood there and wondered which way is the way out of this place? Who’s going to help me now?

And he whispers it quietly. Make. A. U-Turn. He speaks it in the stillness and the quiet. Make. A. U-Turn.

But shouldn’t it be different? He is God, holy and fierce and capable of speaking in any way that he pleases. Everything on the earth that we can see is there because he breathed it into being. But he whispers?

He reaches down and touches our hearts quietly. He whispers. “Return to me and I will return to you” (Zechariah 1:2). “O that their hearts..” (Deut. 5:29).

It’s hard to listen to a whisper.

It’s hard to follow after a king who owns the world but who enters it on a dark night in a stable; a king who rides into his own holy city on the back of a donkey; a king who knocks to be allowed entrance into his own creation.

We are not forced to turn around. We do not have to listen.

He whispers, “I have loved you with and ever lasting love; I have drawn you in with loving-kindness” (Jeremiah 31:3). He whispers, This way. Make a U-turn towards me. You will be unable to reach your destination going that way.

 Can we hear it?

Sometimes. Sometimes I stop. Sometimes I listen. Sometimes I simply turn around. Sometimes.

And it never matters how far I’ve gone or how stubborn I’ve been, there is always this; the wonder of a God who speaks this over the likes of us: 

“The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you. He will quiet you with his holy love and rejoice over you with singing.” ( Zephaniah 3:17).

Hear it spoken over the place where you are standing right now. The Lord your God, is with you in the middle of your work, your people, your struggle, your crazy calendar; your Creator is near. And you can trust him, he knows the way. Go ahead. Take a deep breath and  Make. A. U-turn.