The Need to Discover

f you’re unsure about your precise location, it’s good to look around.

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Acts 28:13 – And from thence we fetched a compass, and came to Rhegium: and after one day the south wind blew, and we came the next day to Puteoli:

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Do you know where you are right now?  I’m not talking about geographically, but spiritually, intellectually, and emotionally.  It is amazing how often through life that we come to moments in time where we might ask ourselves just such a question.  You may have just faced a crisis in life; one of almost any kind, that has left you with a momentary sense of questioning about what’s next in life.  And there are those times in life when you feel like you just need to “get away from it all.”  You feel like you need a get-away, a vacation, a break from it all.  And it could be that you really are so overshadowed by difficulties that you simply want to run away.  While every human being has likely had such feelings, I can assure you that there is no reason you have to live that way. 

In Paul’s case in our Text for Today.  Paul, along with his travel companions, including his custodial guards, had gone through a very difficult time, including, shipwreck, horrible weather, being stranded on an island, snake-bitten, and finally coming to a place where none of his company had a thoroughly accurate account of where they were.  So, they “fetched a compass.”  That means that they chose to travel in perhaps a circular pattern, using their starting point as the center of the circle in at attempt to re-discover a point from which they could begin their journey to their intended destination.  In one way or another, all of us have been in that place.  You may be one of those people who presently find yourself in just such a place.  I have good news for you.  You can find your way on your journey.

• Take a moment right where you are and give God thanks that you’re still alive and well.
• Find someone around you, whether you know them or not, and minister to their needs.
• Rejoice in the blessing of the Lord that such ministry will bring to you.
• “Fetch a compass.”  Make a determination about you next step.  Use where you are as a launching pad and begin to discover what you can reach from where you are.  Discover what’s around you.  It’s called being circumspect.
• In that process of searching will come moments of discovery.  When you find a definitive point from which you can determine you necessary direction, and allow Holy Spirit and wise counsel from those who know where they are to help steer you to where you need to go. 

While these may sound like very natural instructions, they are, in truth, deeply spiritual instruction and wisdom.  Your destination awaits your arrival.  Be blessed in your travel.

Manna for Today – Acts 28:11-16; Ephesians 5:1-21