Flying Blind

Flying Blind                                                                                     April 7, 2024

Our son is a pilot in general aviation.  He flies for business trips and for pleasure.  He recently got his IFR rating.  For those who aren’t familiar, that means Instrument Flight Rules, in other words he is now rated to fly at night and in other limited visibility situations.

Personally, I think it’s almost terrifying, and I grew up flying!  Imagine you are flying along on a beautiful, sunny day and suddenly you find yourself in dense fog, rain, etc.  You literally cannot see anything outside the plane but gray or black.  It’s as if you closed your eyes or turned off your headlights while driving at night.  Countless plane crashes have happened simply because the pilot could not see anything.

Enter the instruments, as in Instrument Flight Rules!  His plane is equipped with several instruments that tell him where he is, where the ground is, where the mountains are, where other planes are and where the airport is.  Flying blind still seems weird to me, but after he explained to me the details of how it works, I get it!  The instruments can “see” into the future, ten feet, ten miles, ten seconds, or ten minutes or even more.  And they can get you safely to the airport!  The instruments are the lifeline, IF one knows how to use them.

It’s the same way in life.  We cannot see ten minutes or even ten seconds into the future.  But God can and He can get us safely to life’s airport, whether that be next week or eternity.  But I must know how to use His instrument, His written word.  I am totally amazed how many Christians will read the paper, read online news, watch TV and attempt to “see” what’s happening, but seldom if ever spend deep, quality time reading God’s word, which is our instrument panel for flying blind – into the future.

In John 6:68, Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.”  Paul knew how it works – in Romans 1:16 he wrote, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

Aircraft instruments get us safely to the airport when we can’t see what’s happening.  As the aircraft instruments get us to the flight pattern at the airport, God’s word gets us to our final destination when we can’t see the future.  Paul wrote, “Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus”  (II Timothy 1:13).  Never make God your co-pilot, He must be your pilot!  He is the captain of our faith (Hebrews 2:10, KJV).  Use the instrument of Scripture to get safely home.

By Ray Wallace