Daily Worship

‘One moment, calculating route…’

James Cathcart March 04, 2026 2 0
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Jeremiah 6: 16 (NIV-UK)

16 This is what the Lord says:

‘Stand at the crossroads and look;
    ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
    and you will find rest for your souls.
    But you said, “We will not walk in it.”

Sat-navs direct us by telling us where we are in relation to other things — pinpointing our location by timing how long it takes signals to bounce from us out into space and back. Unlike paper maps they also attempt to respond to realtime conditions factoring in multiple data sources from traffic, to weather, to road maintenance. 

Sat-navs make a vivid metaphor for what it is to be a Christian — trying to work out where we are in relation to the world around us. Discerning the way forward involves combining the Bible with prayer and wisdom, friendship and insight.

My wife recently told me about this phrase: ‘Disney Princess Theology’. It’s a tongue-in-cheek way to describe the habit of always identifying with the hero when we read a Bible passage. Surely we ourselves are latter-day Josephs or Esthers? But by always thinking so do we miss the warnings given to mouthy false prophets, brutal tyrants and judgemental Pharisees? But surely we’re nothing like them, right? Right? 

Like with the saccharine sweet characters in a Disney story — we often gravitate to the heroes. We all have ‘main character energy’. Identifying with the heroes of our faith is good when it enriches our lives — not so much when it provides us cover for our shortcomings…

Like that famous Mitchell and Webb sketch it can be uncomfortable to ask the question: “What if we’re the baddies?”

Part of ‘calculating the route’ as a Christian is realising who we are in relation to the world around us — with humility and a sense of humour. Faithfully and truthfully following ancient paths also means being willing to calculate new routes.

Dan Harper wrote recently in this Daily Worship about how following Jesus most faithfully often means embracing the curves and the corners of life — as physics shows us that sometimes the most direct path between two points is not in fact a straight line but a geodesic curve!

 

Prayer:

 

Dear God,

Here we are standing at the crossroads.

What is the right way?

So that we can walk in it.

Amen.