Christian Outdoor Object Lesson 16: Compass Magnets

Key Text

"Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6 (WEB)


Lesson

The compass is a relatively new invention in the history of navigation. It has only been used for this purpose for about a thousand years. People have been navigating land and water for several thousands of years. Despite its relatively recent invention it is indispensable in navigation. The compass allows navigators to stay on course even in the midst of a storm when they cannot see where they are going.

The compass has many parallels with our spiritual journey. An interesting fact about the compass is that it is a tiny magnet. All magnets are attracted to each other at opposite ends or poles. The south pole of one magnet is attracted to the north pole of another magnet. Many people don’t realize that the end of the compass needle that points north is actually the south pole of the compass magnet.

This fact is a paradox. It does not seem correct at first, but it is true. There are many teachings in the bible that seem like paradoxes or contradictions. Some examples are God’s justice and mercy, Jesus is the lion of Judah and the Lamb of the world, Jesus said he is the Son of God and the Son of Man, Jesus had to die to give us eternal life. You have no doubt come across things in the bible that are complex, confusing, or appear to be contradictions.

The comforting thing is that we don’t have to understand all these things to receive Jesus and the salvation he offers. It is important to study and understand the mysteries of the Bible. There are pastors and bible scholars who can help us understand the complex things.

Do we need to understand why or how the compass needle works to be able to follow the needle pointing north? Of course not. Similarly, God does not require us to understand everything about the bible or salvation in order to be saved. As it says in Proverbs 3:5-6 we must not lean on our own understanding. All we have to do is trust that God knows what he is doing and will always point us in the right direction.


Questions

Do we trust a compass more than we trust God and his Word?

What paradoxes or complex things have you found in the Bible? What did you do to understand it better?

How do we know that God can be trusted?


Written by David F. Garner

Photo Credit: David F. Garner

Christian Outdoor Object Lesson 15: Tent Stakes At Stake

Key Verse

Look at Zion the city of our appointed festivals. Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a quiet habitation, a tent that won’t be removed. Its stakes will never be plucked up, nor any of its cords be broken. Isaiah 33:20 WEB

Lesson

Tent stakes are a small piece of gear. But if you have ever spent a night without them you know how big of a difference they can make. They have a very big job. Tent stakes are used to anchor tents to the ground in one place. In the past, tents could not even stay erect without the stake to hold the fabric tight. Today a tent can be set up with out stakes but they are still necessary to make the tent secure.

Tent stake are great because they can turn almost any type of ground into a place to call home. Without this key part, the tent may not be much good. Stakes can make the difference between an enjoyable night and a miserable one. In severe weather they can even save your life. When you purchase a new tent, they come with instructions warning that the tent is not secure unless it is staked down.

In Isaiah 33:20 we read a promise God is making to the Children of Israel. He says that Jerusalem, their capital city and the place where God’s temple is, will never be removed. It will be like a tent with stakes they can never be plucked up. However, this promise is conditional. In verse 15 we see that the promise is conditional on the Children of Israel keeping their end of the covenant—they must stay faithful to God.

Throughout the bible we find instructions on how we are to keep our end of the covenant God made with us by sending his Son to die for our sins. We must follow the 10 Commandments and we should worship Him. But this is not enough. We must also love our enemies; we must show mercy to those who don’t deserve it. We must be willing to sacrifice everything to follow God. Only then will we be sure that our salvation is secure as a staked tent in a storm.

Tent stakes might make your tent look complete but don’t do much good if they are not used. Likewise, if we appear to have a relationship with God outwardly by doing all the right things, but don’t use God’s word to change our inward character, those outward actions don’t really do us much good. Tent stakes work best when used properly.


Questions

What other instructions does the Bible provide for us to keep our covenant with God?

How does a relationship with God change us on the inside?

What keys does the Bible provide to know when we are being changed by God? (Think Galatians 5:22-23)

Written by David F. Garner
Photo Credit: Jan Uthoff via commons.wikimedia.org under a CC 3.0 License.

Christian Outdoor Object Lesson 14: Learn A Lesson From The Firefly (Lightning Bug)

Key Text

"Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth." Ecclesiastes 12:1a (WEB)

Lesson

What do you think of when you see a firefly: a warm summer’s eve? sitting on the back porch or by the lake? how calming it is to watch the faint flickering lights? If you have ever had similar thoughts you are not alone. I believe God gave us fireflies for this very reason. If you were to guess how long fireflies live what would you guess: all summer? half the summer?

In fact, adult fireflies live for only a couple of weeks! The fireflies you see at the end of the summer are not the same ones as you see at the beginning. It may not be a big surprise to you that they don’t live very long. Most insects have a short life-span. But the real surprise is how long they live as larvae before the adult stage. How long would you guess they spend as larvae? If you guessed two years you would be right! 

Try to imagine that! If human lives worked that way we would spend about 50 years as children and 18 years as adults! It would be so hard to have to wait that long to be grown up. As our lives are sometimes it seems hard to weight only 18 years or so to be fully grown. When we are teenagers we feel like we cannot wait another month to grow up.

Perhaps God gave us an example in the firefly to remind us youth doesn’t last so long in comparison to adulthood. God could have made us like the firefly, but he didn’t. We need to remember to enjoy our youth. We need to remember to learn as much as we can before we have so much responsibility. We need to learn to enjoy the opportunities youth brings. Everything will happen in the right time.

Most importantly, we need to remember to build a relationship with God in our youth. Even if we are no longer youth, the sooner in our lives we turn to God, the better. As King Solomon pointed out in Ecclesiastes 12:1, we ought to remember to start our lives off with God as young as we can. The firefly spends two years preparing for its short adult life. The more time we spend preparing for God’s purpose in our life by staying close to him the better our relationship with him will be.

Questions

Why is it hard to wait to be grown up sometimes?

Why did God give us childhood?

Do you wish you could have been made an adult and skipped childhood?

Sources

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Firefly


Written by David F. Garner
Photo Credit: Amanjeev via www.flickr.com under a CC 2.0 License.