“Ye shall observe to do therefore as the LORD your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.” Deut. 5:32
When the Spirit of God told me while I was driving one day to STOP VEERING, I knew immediately what God was telling me. I knew instantly He was not talking to me about my driving. And I knew almost right away that His message to me was for others also. Maybe even you.
I had been driving for decades by then, and I knew plenty about the danger of veering. Though I had rarely used the word over the years, I had total clarity about the meaning of it – and of its danger. I also knew by the Spirit of God why this message is so vitally important – for all of us.
Merriam-Webster dictionary online includes in its definition of veer, “to change direction or course” and “to direct to a different course.” If you drive a car or have ever driven a car or ever even been a passenger in a car, you know that starting to veer out of the lane one is driving in can be incredibly dangerous. Risks are cars in neighboring lanes headed the same way, cars in neighboring lanes headed in the opposite direction, walkers, joggers, and bicyclists on the shoulder, water, snow, ice, and ditches on the side of the road, etc. The trouble with veering is that when the driver loses focus on the road ahead, begins getting off course, in other words simply starts veering, it can all seem perfectly okay. After all, there are not always problems as a result of veering. A good driver notices he or she is veering, makes a correction, and heads back quickly to the right position on the road on the way to the right destination. If all goes well, nothing bad happens. But at any given moment, on any given day, veering can result in anything from a minor problem and accident to a fatal one whether for the driver, the passengers, and/or other drivers and pedestrians. A prideful driver can assume just because veering for years resulted in no mishaps, this will always be the case. A humble driver is ever on the alert, making corrections as necessary and working hard to maintain as steady and safe as possible a course.
Why was God telling me to stop veering? Because I was getting distracted in my ministry work and taking on some endeavors not directed by Him while losing my focus, concentration, and some of my energy needed to do what He had in fact given me to do. Because there had been no great mishaps with this veering, I had lazily, foolishly, even pride-fully assumed the veering was okay. It was not. His Spirit was correcting me, bringing me back on course. Perhaps there is an area of your life in which you have been veering off course – of the Bible and God’s ways, and maybe even His specific will for your individual everyday life.
Stop veering!