By: Randall E. Pickens, Sr.
When I pondered the principle of how a sextant works, my spirit jumped inside me! This is a powerful visual object lesson that illustrates how we must navigate our spiritual journey back into relationship with God. John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. Is it any wonder why the world is floundering?
Warning! The next few paragraphs may seem to be too technical and you may be tempted to stop reading, please suffer through the technical description of the tool and it’s use. If you will continue reading the example will become very clear and you will gain a really good analogy of how God , Jesus and His Word reestablishes our relationship to Father God.
The sextant relies on the optical principle that if a ray of light is reflected from two mirrors in succession then the angle between the first and last direction of the ray is twice the angle between the mirrors. And this angle can then be read off the arc scale.
To use the sextant, it’s telescope must be focused on 1. the horizon (a constant point of reference). 2. The “celestial body” to be shot, located and the sextant aimed at it. Bring the body down to the horizon by moving the arm along the arc and then clamp the arm. Now, using the micrometer knob make small adjustments while gently swaying the instrument slightly from side to side until the heavenly body just brushes the horizon.
When this is achieved you must instantly 3. Note the (relationship between the two) time, seconds first, then minutes and hours, then the name of the celestial body and its observed altitude in reference to your position. Every second of time counts – an error of 4 seconds which would equates to an error of a nautical mile in the position. The earth moves 15 degrees an hour. So the nautical almanac is where you must then look up the documented location of that celestial body for that corresponding coordinate and day of the year.
The relationship between these two points must be verified in the navigational almanac which identifies our location to this celestial body (latitude/longitude) at that given moment in time (as observed and recorded in maps and almanac). We now know where we are!
Analogy explained:
When I considered how a sextant works, my spirit jumped inside me! This is a powerful visual object lesson of how we must navigate our spiritual journey back into relationship with God. John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. Is it any wonder why the world is floundering?
We have been separated from God by a gulf of sin. Jesus came to provide the constant necessary to navigate through the oceans of sin and see us safely home again.
I pray this message will inspire you to get serious about evaluating your relationship with God. I pray that you will see the importance of establishing a biblical “point of reference” and know that if you trust Jesus you can find your way back home. Jesus is the LIVING WORD and that which reveals our relationship to God at any given point and time. (He is the Spiritual navigational almanac and map) to bring us safely home.
Summary: When I first started this analysis, my emphasis was on the tool, the sextant. However, as I began to grasp the true principle of it’s use, I realized that the tool is useless without the almanac and maps that record the accurate (longitude/latitude) of the celestial body to my current position at any given time. This meant that a calendar, chronograph, map, and nautical almanac were required to navigate with the sextant.
In time of trouble a captain would make sure he had all of these components available. If he were required to abandon ship these would be among the first items he would secure. Now think about trying to navigate through this life without God’s guidance. That’s a scary thought! Thankfully, we don’t have to flounder. God has made available everything we need to navigate these troubled waters. 2 Tim 2:15 tells us to study to shew thyself approved unto God!
Friend, 2 Tim 3:1 tells us we live in perilous (dangerous) and troubled times. However, don’t stop there; verse 16 tells us that the Spiritual almanac (BIBLE), inspired of God will guide us home! Here is a phrase we should apply to this topic, “DON”T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT” and I’m not talking about travelers checks or credit cards! We can not hope to navigate these present troubled waters without God’s help.
The Word of God (Jesus) is our “point of reference” and is the “constant” that never changes which is the base that reveals our true “relationship” to the Father! Without a point of reference “we are lost”!
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