The compass that wouldn’t cooperate
Written by THEUNIS, JOHANNES CLOETE tjcloete@absamail.co.za
THE COMPASS THAT WOULDN’T COOPERATE
An old sailor repeatedly got lost at sea, so his friends gave him a compass and urged him to use it. The next time he went out in his boat, he followed their advice and took the compass with him. But as usual he became hopelessly confused and was unable to find land. Finally, he was once again rescued by his friends.
Disgusted and impatient with him, they asked, “Why didn’t you use that compass we gave you? You could have saved us a lot of trouble!”
The sailor responded: “I didn’t dare to! I wanted to go north, but as hard as I tried to make the needle aim in that direction, it just kept on pointing southeast.”
That old sailor was so certain he knew which way was north, that he stubbornly tried to force his own personal persuasion on his compass. As a result he was unable to benefit from the guidance it offered.
Let us make sure we do not treat God like that man treated the compass; trying to manipulate him to work our way!
Remember the Lord’s prayer is:
“Thy will be done” not “Thy will be done my way”