Trust Your Instruments

Psalm 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

It was 1979 and I was flying with three friends in a four passenger airplane. Darkness and fog had set in and I realized we were flying in circles, not making any progress. The guys were frantically working the radio.

I shouted above the roar of the motor, "Why are we flying in circles? Is everything ok?"

"We're alright. Don't worry!" was the reply from up front.

Later I learned that when they left the radio contact of the previous tower, the operator gave them the wrong frequency for the next one. There was no communication. Tom trusted his instruments in the fog and started circling to maintain our position. Once radio contact was made, we were safely on our way again.

Fast-forward twenty years to 1999.

By Don Phillips
Washington Post Staff Writer
...Kennedy was a relatively novice pilot flying a high-performance aircraft over the ocean on a nearly moonless night as a summer haze hung over the Northeast, a dangerous combination of factors.

That meant that he was likely flying into what pilots call a "black hole" while searching through the haze for the first pinpoints of light on Martha's Vineyard. Human beings tend to become disoriented when they are suspended in blackness and have almost no "visual cues." It is easy to believe that up is down. That is why planes have instruments, and pilots are told to believe their instruments rather than go with their senses.

Nonetheless, the flight into Martha's Vineyard should not have been beyond Kennedy's capabilities as long as he followed that basic rule of "trust your instruments."...

John Kennedy Jr., his wife and her sister all tragically plunged to their deaths that night in the ocean.

God has given us "instruments" to keep us on the right "flight path" and prevent us from crashing spiritually:

• His Word, the Bible (Psalm 119:105)
• Prayer (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
• Preaching & teaching of the Word of God (Hebrews 4:2; Ephesians 4:21-23 )
• Other believers in the church. (Hebrews 10:24-25 )

Are you in a fog in your life? Don't know which way to turn? Make sure all your intstruments are calibrated to the first one, God's Word, and then trust your instruments.

Dear Father, Help us to use the means You provide for staying on the right path. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
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