"Navigating The Wilderness" - Isaiah 43:16-21 - April 1, 2002

One time a man and his family were sailing on the Chesapeake Bay. He had little experience and he had never been in waters where you had to navigate. Unfortunately he ran aground. The Coast Guard came to his aid and towed him back into safe waters. When they asked to see his chart he handed them a Rand McNally Road Map. He had been navigating with a road map and not a nautical chart. For those of you who know nothing about sailing, a nautical chart shows the depth of the water, shoals, obstacles and channels.

I believe that today too many people are navigating through life with the wrong map. Instead of looking outward seeking help, they look inward relying on their own resources. Instead of plotting a course they just wander from here to there with very little planning and a lack of goals. People also live in the past, doing things the same way they have always done them before, taking no risks and having no adventure.

When the journey gets difficult people get stuck, like the fellow who went aground. All seems hopeless. They are not prepared to face rough waters or weather the storms that arise. They can’t cope with a crisis and they are unable to adapt to changing conditions.

Walter Cross of Bradenton, Florida, tells the story about a man who worked for the highway department. He was hired to paint lines on a newly resurfaced portion of an interstate highway. The first day he painted 109 miles, and his supervisor, impressed by his effort, told him he would recommend a promotion and a raise if he kept up that pace.

The next day he was only able to paint 5 miles. And on the following day he painted only 1 mile. When he reported at quitting time he was fired. "It isn’t my fault," he muttered to his boss, shaking his head. "I kept getting farther away from the can."

There are times when we have to go back to the beginning to accomplish things. But eventually we have to let go of what worked in the past and make adjustments. The Israelites neglected to make adjustments. The were counting on the past experiences to help them in the present.

The Israelites were stuck. They longed for newness and refreshment. But rather than forge ahead into the wilderness they remained where they were, thirsty, empty and unfulfilled. The Israelites were traveling with an old map. In the past God had led them through the Red Sea, provided manna from heaven and delivered them from their oppressors.

Those past experiences where God intervened on their behalf were spectacular. But as wonderful as the "good ole days" were, the best was still yet to come. Clinging to the past would not help them in the future. God has prepared a "new thing" for them and this newness awaited them in the wilderness.

God promised to "make a way," to chart a course that would lead them there. God also promised them "rivers in the desert." In other words their needs would be met. They would never be thirsty and the way would be clear.

Last week, the USS Iowa navigated its way through the Panama Canal. The ship is over 100 feet wide. She slowly steamed through the narrow passage with less than one foot of clearance on either side. The Panama canal has been used for decades but many of today’s larger ships are unable to use it.

Times change. The ways of the past may have worked then but they don’t always work in the present. We have to change, and trust that new and improved ways can lead us into the future. Somehow we think that the best days of our lives are gone. This is how the Israelites thought. But, Isaiah was desperately trying to convince them that the best days are still yet to come. The best days for us are ahead too, when we are willing to believe that God will pave the way and supply all our needs.

I believe that most people live with the assumption that the glory days are only in the past. Yes, we survived. Yes, we managed with less. Yes, times were different. Recently I overheard a discussion about a man my age who refused to learn how to use computers. He vowed never to succumb to "e-mail."

On the other hand, another man recently told me that when he was a kid he used to read about space stations in comic books. Now, we go and come to them on a regular basis. I am frequently reminded of how things are changing. I am still getting used to cell phones that ring in the classroom and department stores. So far, none has ever gone off during worship (yet). When I was a student in the 60"s the hand held calculator had not been invented. Today I couldn’t do my math without it. Air conditioning was rare in automobiles. I actually heard recently that you can now download 3 songs over the internet in about 20 seconds.

Just about all of us resist change, like the man who kept going back to his paint can. We fail to trust in "new things" to carry us into the future. Or, we are using outdated maps to take us where we want to go. We are like the Israelites who were looking to the past for deliverance rather than to the future. Isaiah is telling us that the same God who led us through the past will continue to lead us in the future, only with new navigation aids and newly built highways.

Dr. Keith Wagner, St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, Sidney, Ohio