Saturday, November 3, 2018

The Value of Landmarks

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones? Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. For the LORD your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over:”

Joshua 4:21–23

In his well-known fanciful poem The Hunting of the Snark, Lewis Carroll described the voyage of a group of ten misfits hoping to find a mythical creature known as a snark. Their captain, the Bellman has procured a special map to guide their sailing adventure.

“What’s the good of Mercator’s North Poles and Equators,
Tropics, Zones, and Meridian Lines?”
So the Bellman would cry: and the crew would reply
“They are merely conventional signs!
Other maps are such shapes, with their islands and capes!
But we’ve got our brave Captain to thank
(So the crew would protest) that he’s bought us the best—
A perfect and absolute blank!”

Of course a map without any marks for land can neither guide nor protect a sailing ship. It offers no help at all. Yet in many ways such a map is in keeping with our age when people deny even the existence of truth. The problem is that such an unguided life is certain to end in disaster.

That is why God instructs us in the way in which we should go. He clearly marks the dangers of sin, placing them off limits to the obedient. He clearly directs us to safe passage if we are willing to follow His Word. And He instructs us to take steps to remind ourselves of what He has spoken. These landmarks are meant for our protection and guidance.

Today’s Growth Principle: 

Without the boundaries and landmarks of the Scripture, we would be left to drift aimlessly through life.