A friend once me that she was going to a special homecoming weekend at Valparaiso University in Indiana. The campus is about an hour southwest of Chicago, so she and her husband flew there. There was a bus available for attendees, but they decided that they wanted their own transportation.  The invitation advised them to take the bus or, if driving from the airport, to take a route other than the normal one because of construction and heavy traffic.  As she told it, they ignored the advice, rented the car and decided to take the shortest route.  Approaching their selected route, there were several signs advising drivers of construction delays, but they drove on.  After all, it was the shortest route and they had gone that way to Valparaiso before.  How bad could it be?

Well, it was bad. It took them three times as long as usual to make that drive from the airport to Valparaiso and they were almost late for a party in their honor because of their unwillingness to listen to advice from the experts. They thought they knew better.

Maybe you’ve had a similar experience. Someone who has more knowledge than you do advises you to change your plans based on their knowledge. However, you refuse to take their advice, thinking you know better. The end result is usually things not going as you planned.

Does is pay to follow the advice of experts? I guess it depends on the expert.

Think of the children of Israel. They certainly didn’t plan to spend 40 years in the desert being led by a pillar of fire at night and a cloud by day so that God could teach His people to trust in Him. They had to trust Him for food and water and for clothes and shoes that didn’t wear out.  The result of that journey, of following the expert, was their entry into the Promised Land.

Think about Jesus in the New Testament. He started His ministry with the words, “Follow me.”  Just that – follow me.  Those who followed had to trust Jesus as they followed, but in the process they were transformed and became new people. When He ascended, Jesus shared with those followers His work and His way:  “Go and make disciples. I will send my Spirit to empower you to do that.”

I attended a conference with the theme ‘His Work, His Way, Our Walk’ declaring that we  trust God in our walk to do His work His way. He’s the expert and we need to listen to His advice and follow Him on this incredible journey rather than rely on our own plans.  It means that we should give up our own preferences and listen to Him.  It may mean that we have to take a path other than the one we would have chosen, that we need to expand our comfort zones.

As disciples of Jesus, we are being called to act in faith and trust Him so that our walk reflects His work and His way.  We know that He will guide us and provide for all our needs, just as He has provided for our greatest need by taking our place in punishment, providing forgiveness and life and salvation for everyone.

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Romans 8:32