Wednesday, June 14, 2023 – Romans 10:5-21
One Saturday when I was 16, I wanted to go visit my cousin in Knoxville, Tenn., so we could play a round of golf together. I lived about 45 minutes away from him and the route to get there involved lots of interstate travel with multiple exchanges. Now, this was before I had a phone or any sort of GPS. So, my parents wrote down the directions for me on a piece of paper and I followed them to the letter.
My cousin and I had a great time golfing and then it was time for me to return home. The problem was that my parents had not written down the directions for how to return home. Now, to be fair, I had seen my parents make the journey successfully many times. So, while in theory, I should have just gone the opposite direction on exits, remember I was only 16, not yet a seasoned driver, and it was as if everything I had seen before had vanished from my mind.
As I tried to figure it out on the fly, I finally had to admit that I was going in the wrong direction and didn’t know what to do. In fact, I was well on my way to North Carolina when I decided to stop. I pulled over and used a pay phone to make a collect call home so my parents could save me and guide me back to our house. If you’re young enough for that last sentence not to make any sense, just know it was really hard back in the dark ages.
As it happens, God’s chosen people experienced something similar in their own journey. God had given them his instructions (the Law) and they had worked diligently to follow them to the letter. Yet, somewhere, along the way, they had been so focused on adhering to the instructions that they missed what God had been pointing them to all along – their need for a Savior.
They had been trying to save themselves through adherence to the Law and by claiming their birthright as descendants of Abraham. However, God wanted them to trust in his promise of a Messiah. In other words, God wanted them to trust in his leading. But when Jesus came, many failed to see that he was exactly what they had been looking for the whole time. And, like me – driving on an interstate to God-knows-where in North Carolina – they kept on searching for the answer in the wrong places, in themselves, following a path that was not going to lead them to their home.
What they needed then – and what you and I need today – is a return to the arms of a Good Father. When we rely on his guidance and trust in his ways far beyond our own, we take the bold step of allowing God to be God. That means trusting in him for our salvation, not just in ourselves. As Paul reminds us through quoting the prophet, Joel, “For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’” (10:13). So, maybe it’s time to stop the car and get help from our Lord. He loves us enough to even take a collect call.
Questions for reflection:
- What are some areas of your life that you have not fully submitted to God yet? Why have you been holding back in those areas?
- Take a moment and call God collect (he always accepts the charges) through prayer. Ask him to guide you home and take time to listen for his response.