As to getting your bearing, your direction, or heading…. Arriving at our bearing requires we have a reference point of some sort. How do you get a reference point so you can draw out your bearings? Everyone has ideas, but are they good ideas? It would be easy to quote some scripture, which, don’t get me wrong, that’s a good thing, but if it’s not really owned and practiced it’s not much of an answer….it’s more of a reply that sounds good, and makes us look like we know something, but really underneath the layers of acceptable Christian-eze, we’re often still pretty clueless. We want to own our stuff, i mean take real ownership of our situation….and not blind ownership either, which means we just agree without knowing what we’re agreeing to, or we agree just to get someone off our back. Blind ownership is really no ownership at all, so we’ve got to be more surgical about getting down to the truth of exactly what it is we are owning about the Lord along with understanding our “set and bearing” in Him.
Having your bearing means we must, simply must have a good reference point. We say Jesus is our reference point above all reference points, but our attitudes and actions often point to a very different story. We don’t need “A” bearing, we need “true bearing”.
“Position yourselves”, as spoken of in 1Chron20:17 is a key phrase as it relates to our “set and bearing”, set equaling the phrase”position yourselves”, or how we Stand, Hold, and See, and, bearing speaks of our consequent heading with respect to our reference point, THE reference point of all reference points, Jesus our “true north”.
In 1Chron20, Jehoshaphat is in a real spot….it was bad. The people of Moab and Ammon, along with other armies, even from beyond the sea, came to battle against him. Scripture doesn’t say what their problem was, but they obviously were all in agreement as to who they thought needed killing. i bet the King rallied the army to a defensive position, but according to scripture, Jehoshaphat’s first response was to go before the Lord. Verse 3, reads, “And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.” He positioned himself to hear and obtain the favor of God. At the end of his public prayer, in vs 12, his words are recorded as, “….. For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” Did you get that? He said, “We don’t know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” He knew where to get his set and bearings when he had lost them….although it doesn’t necessarily say this outright, but by evidence of his answer, it’s safe to sayhe believed God would direct their path….he believed God would hear and answer. As it turns out, the Lord did. In vs 17, God said, “stand, hold, and see”, and then gave them their bearings for the next day.
And what was the first thing they did? They bowed down before the Lord giving thanks and prepared to go out the next day. The knew where they were going to be tomorrow, so they understood how to be where they were today. And what was their great plan for tomorrow? Jehoshaphat put the worship team in the front of the army in all their holy attire, told them to sing, “Give thanks to the LORD, for his steadfast love endures forever”, and had them march and worship in front of the army, singing, blowing the trumpets, and banging the drums and cymbals unto the Lord.
As it turns out, that was exactly the right thing to do. The Lord went before them, delivering Judah from great harm. Now, i think that’s about one of the most incredible stories i’ve ever heard.
That is an example of having lost your set and bearing, finding it, then taking action! All i can think is, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”