Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
PROVERBS 3:5–6
In some neighborhoods, it’s easy to lose your sense of direction. The houses all look alike, the landscaping is more or less the same, and there are no distinctive landmarks. In a mountain town, it’s a different story. It’s never difficult to figure out what direction you’re facing. If you can see the mountain, you can orient yourself. There will be other landmarks, but none so useful from just about any vantage point. Rivers and highways disappear from view within a few blocks. Even the tallest trees, grandest buildings, and biggest billboards sink out of sight by the time you’ve gone about a mile. But a nearby mountain can be glimpsed from almost anywhere; at most all you have to do is walk a short distance or turn around to spot it.
What orients us in our day-to-day life? Do we have an overwhelming landmark? Or just the confusion of competing claims on our focus? Some signposts are quite useful in specific situations: the best practices of a particular profession; the guidelines of a specific discipline; the code of conduct of our company; even the etiquette of everyday life. But each of these covers just a small arena compared with the Bible. The principles revealed in Scripture give guidance for all of life, and they go deeper, too, addressing not just our actions or even our intentions, but our very hearts. The Bible holds up a mirror for us. “Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do” (James 1:23–25).
Best of all, the Bible reveals who God is and how much He loves us. What could be a better guide than that?