and lean not on your own understanding."
Proverbs 3:5
In 1926, an Air Corps pilot, Major David Myers, conducted an experiment wherein he placed a pilot in a revolving chair and spun him him in circles. This was not a test of his inner constitution, and his ability to keep his lunch where it belongs. No, that's the stuff of today's reality programs...
Myers spun the chair at a steady rate, and asked the pilot questions about what was happening to him. If the pilot had his eyes shut, he couldn't even accurately tell which way the chair was spinning! If the rotation was slowed, the pilot would sense the deceleration, but he would also believe that the chair had stopped spinning altogether. Then, if the chair was stopped, the pilot would say the chair was now spinning in the other direction.
It's amazing to see how little they could rely on their senses, and there was an important lesson for them there. But Myers took his experiments a little farther, and the story gets worse. When pilots were placed in a spinning chair with a hood over their heads, and given instruments they could consult, they refused to believe what the instruments were telling them.
Have you ever done that? Firmly believed something that absolutely wasn't true? We all have. It's humbling. But it's also valuable, if we learn from it. Those pilots had to learn to trust their instruments, not their instincts. The same goes for us. Our instincts, our knowledge, our emotions all feel right, but they are not trustworthy. They are part of what God has given us, to guide us, but if we're working without Him, we're in danger. A friend of mine recently said to me, "If you're looking for God to reveal something to you, then you need to look to what He's already revealed." 2 Samuel 22:31 says, "The Word of the Lord is proven." I just love that reminder that for centuries, God's children have relied on Scripture for wisdom, encouragement, and conviction. And just as God is unchanging, so is His Word.
But it's not about flipping it open, and randomly pointing to a verse, to find out if you should turn left or right. It's about having a relationship with the Bible. Know where to find a few verses you like. Read the Bible every day, staying with a book until you finish it, so that you get a feel for the overall theme of that book. And little by little, as you familiarize yourself with His Word, you'll find it comes to mind when you're not expecting it. And you'll find that there is comfort in trusting in Him, even when you don't even realize the chair has stopped spinning! :)
~ "Let all those who trust in You rejoice!
Let them shout for joy!" ~
Psalm 5:11
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