My mother is in her late 80s but is still very capable and independent. I want to help her stay that way, but I live thousands of miles away which makes it difficult for me to troubleshoot problems that arise.

For example, she had a few radio stations as presets on her car radio. Unfortunately, the radio provider she uses reassigned many of the channels for their stations recently, rendering my mom’s presets obsolete. Trying to help her fix those presets over the phone was a big challenge. Fortunately, I was able to set things right during a recent visit.

But now an error message about low tire pressure is appearing on her car’s display. The obvious solution is to put air in her tires, which she has done many times. We’ve determined she needs new tires, but until that happens, she will need to live with this error message.

The error message doesn’t seem like an urgent problem, but in fact it’s a bigger problem than the radio station presets or the tires being low. Why?

Because the error message apparently prevents my mom from being able to see how fast she’s driving.

When she can’t tell how fast she’s driving, she feels both unsafe and nervous about being pulled over.

The last thing I want is for my mom to lose her independence over a simple thing like that, but it’s totally understandable. Not being sure of your own speed would be unsettling. A similar problem is not knowing the speed limit. Neither one is good.

I’ve come to appreciate my phone’s map app because when I’m using it to navigate, it clearly displays the current speed limit wherever I happen to be driving.

It’s important to know the laws as well as how successfully I am obeying them. I can avoid all kinds of delays, fines, and other troubles with that information.

This is true in my spiritual life as well.

“I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” (Psalms‬ ‭119‬:‭11‬ ‭NLT‬‬)

How can I please God if I don’t even know what He wants from me? I could guess what God might want. Or I could follow other people. These things lead to activities that are even worse than simple ignorance. If I guess what God wants when I don’t really know Him, or if I follow others without knowing the truth about God myself, I can end up doing things that are wrong while imagining I am righteous. This is exactly why Jesus overturned the tables in the temple, and why He was so often arguing with the Pharisees of His time. Their ideas of what God wanted had gotten warped by customs and social norms over time. They were disobeying while proclaiming themselves righteous.

Just like I need to read my speedometer and the speed limit signs to obey the law, to truly know how to be obedient to God, I need to read His word. Thoroughly and often. I need to read and pray and study and listen. In this way, I will get to know God and what He truly cares about, no matter what other “righteous” people say. Then I will understand exactly what He wants from me.

Dear God, thank you for giving me such easy access to your word in so many languages and translations. Forgive me for taking that gift for granted. Teach me how to read it, let me hear your voice when I read it, and show me how to put your purpose for me into practice today and tomorrow.