Daily Jewel

by Pastor Carnell, McAlester, OK
Apr. 11, 2012

“Trust Your Instruments”
“My son, pay attention to my wisdom, listen well to my words of insight…” – Proverbs 5:1

I think we have been here before. These words seem remarkably familiar to those we have read in the prior four chapters. For those who may have just started reading these messages allow me this opportunity to repeat a statement from the very first message from chapter one. I see the book of Proverbs as God's means for those who earnestly desire to expand their knowledge and wisdom! Not just spiritually but also experientially. The Proverbs are for those who have a real goal to be the absolute best that they can be! Through them God is saying, "Do not settle for surface knowledge. Do not be content with little. Dig as deep and as far as you can for that is where life’s real treasures are found."
At what point do we begin to take Solomon’s plea seriously? When do we realize that these are far more than words jotted down on paper? Do we understand how important Solomon’s instructions truly are? Maybe that is where we are missing it! Since we don’t understand how everything works we tend to ignore those that we do understand. Here is a good example.
Have you ever flown in an airplane and wondered why a full cup of coffee does not spill when the plane turns? That’s right, no matter how steep the banked turns—even if the wings are perpendicular to the ground—coffee (or any drink) won’t spill. A magazine will drop straight to the floor, and flight attendants will walk upright down the aisle as if the plane were level. And unless you are looking out the window, you cannot tell which way the plane is turning. All because of a little thing called…inertia.
Pilots, too, are subject to inertia. When flying through clouds or fog, which prevent them from seeing the horizon, pilots cannot feel the plane’s wings beginning to bank to the left or right. In fact in the early days of flight, pilots followed the myth of instinct. They believed they could feel the turn, and when their planes were accidently engulfed in fog or clouds, many banked unknowingly into a spiral dive that ended in a crash. That’s why pilot William Langewiesche writes: “Instinct is worse than useless in the clouds.”
To fly through clouds, pilots must rely on instruments like the artificial horizon. The artificial horizon is a gyroscopically (and do not ask me what that means) steadied line that stays level with the earth’s surface and unerringly indicates when the wings are banking left or right. The artificial horizon revolutionized flying, but when it was first invented, pilots resisted using it. The biggest problem flyers had was belief. They trusted their feelings more than their instruments!
In the Christian life, God’s Word acts as our primary flight instrument. Just like in flying, we do not have to understand how the instruments in the plane operate, but we trust that the “pilot” does. I do not have to understand how everything in Scripture works—but since it comes from God I have to trust that it does.
Pastor J. T. Carnell