One of the most important people on any train is the engineer. Not only does he drive the train, but he is also in charge of coupling and uncoupling train cars, and checking for any problems with the train before it leaves the train yard.
That is quite a job if you think about it. He is in charge of a huge piece of equipment that has the potential to hurt someone, or many people if something were to go wrong. There have been reports of multiple train accidents that killed hundreds due to the train not being taken care of according to standards set and written in law. This isn’t a job that should go to someone that will just let things slide by and not look deep into what exactly needs to be done to maintain this huge piece of machinery. You want someone that is responsible and knowledgeable about their train. Someone that can see and know what may happen in the future and take care of any situation before it gets to be a problem.
The engineer of our lives is also very important.
He is the one that we are relying on to guide us down our track. He will also help keep us from falling apart and becoming rusty or unusable.
As a believer in Christ, we are told that God wants to be our Engineer. He is the only one that is capable of fulling, understanding, and guiding us in the direction that is best for our lives. As simple people, we do not have the ability to see what is to come or even fully understand everything that is going on in our present. Proverbs 3:5-6 – “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” If we trust Him, he promises to guide us, our train, down a track that will lead to a destination of hope. Psalm 32:8 – “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.” He is a personal God that wants to show YOU the path of success that is only found in Him.
But… We need to make that choice personally. Psalm 25:4-5 – “Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.”
So, how do we make God the engineer of our train?
Proverbs 11:14 – “Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.” This verse makes it very clear. We are to seek counsel for answers to the questions we are unsure about and to read God’s Word, letting him personally speak and help you. Psalm 37:23-24 – “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.”
Now, I wish I could say that everyone had God as their engineer, but a lot of times we want to control our own lives, which sad to say, is usually unsuccessful. We are not designed to figure everything out on our own. Jeremiah 10:23 – “O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” But…because the Bible clearly says that there are some things in this world that go directly against his design, they end up deciding to reject God as their engineer and make him a mere passenger in their life.
Either way, we have to make the choice for ourselves. Is God going to guide our train and take care of it so we don’t have to, even if there are standards and rules we may not fully understand? Or are we going to guide our own train, down the track of time, with no idea what may happen or if we will be successful, all for the world’s pleasure?
There is no middle ground to making this decision, you can’t go back and forth on who is going to take the lead on your train. There can’t be two head engineers.1 John 2:15 – “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” You can either love the world or God.
Who will you choose today to take the position of guiding and taking care of your train today?