Spiritual Guidance

Psalm 119:105, "Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.” (NLT)

I truly believe that it does matter about the source of your and my spiritual influence. We need to be careful and examine the source of "truth" on which we are relying to lead us in the right direction. There are many sources of what is referred to as "truth" in our modern world but we can confidently put our hope, faith and trust in the Word of God. I would like to share a story that I recently read. This story reminds us of the importance of making sure that we have the right source of spiritual direction in our lives.

In 1804, the British ship HMS Apollo was leading a convoy of 69 merchant vessels to the West Indies on a route that put them parallel to the coasts of Spain and Portugal, about a hundred miles from land.   A storm arose on Sunday, April 1.   Even though it was April Fools’ Day, the captain was unconcerned because his compass assured him he was well into open sea. But in the wee hours of the morning, the ship wrecked against the jagged rocks of the coastline.

Jolted from their hammocks, the crew ran to their posts and tried to save the ship from the cold sea.   The waves crashed over the hull, flooding the ship from above amid the screams of shipmen still below.

As night gave way to dawn, the surviving crew were amazed to find themselves not a hundred miles from land, but wrecked against the Portuguese coast, which was littered with the debris from many of the other ships in their convoy.   Of the sixty-nine vessels traveling with HMS Apollo, forty were wrecked, some with total loss of life.   It was one of the greatest disasters in the history of British maritime shipping.

The captain of HMS Apollo faced court-martial, but he was acquitted when it was learned that the fault lay not with him - but with the ship’s compass.

Because the Apollo had taken on a large iron tank, the magnetism of the compass was thrown off just a little - just four degrees - and the error accumulated day after day.   As leader of the convoy, the captain had unwittingly led the others to shipwreck because his compass was defective.

Here is a simple but challenging question that each of us need to ask ourselves. Is the Bible the "spiritual compass" of my life?