One of the statements I once heard at a leadership event was the phrase “know your lane.”  I really like that phrase, and I use it a lot when talking about leadership and being who God wants us to be. We should know our lane. And we should “stay in our lane.”

Ok Andy, what does that mean.

Think about driving on the interstate.  There are two lanes.  And, let’s say, you are driving a 1990 Pontiac LeMans (my first car. We used to call it the turtle. Because, well, you know).  As I was driving to school on the interstate, I stayed in the right, i.e. slow lane.  Why? Because I was driving a 1990 Pontiac LeMans. Fast was not a speed that it had.  I knew what my car could do, and I knew what lane I needed to be in. And I stayed in it.

Know who you are.  Know what you can do.  And do it. Don’t try to be someone you aren’t. Know your strengths and weaknesses.  Know what you can and can’t do. And do it. Know your lane and stay in it.

Ok, what’s that got to with God?

Listen to parts of Psalm 78 this morning:

Their hearts were not loyal to him.
They did not keep his covenant.
Yet he was merciful and forgave their sins
and did not destroy them all.
Many times he held back his anger
and did not unleash his fury!
For he remembered that they were merely mortal,
gone like a breath of wind that never returns.

God knows who we are.  God knows our lane.  I love the end of this passage. There were many times God should have just destroyed the people.  He should have wiped them off the face of the map.  He should have ended them.

But He didn’t.  Why?  He knew their lane.  He knew that they (we) were merely mortal.  They (we) are like a breath of wind that will never return.

We are weak and we are frail. We are going to make mistakes. We are going to fall.  We are going to do it wrong.

That’s who we are.

But, here’s the thing. I’m not telling you to accept that. I’m not giving you permission to stay in your sin.  This is what it teach us.  We are weak.  And if we think that the can overcome our weakness and sin based off our own will power and strength, we don’t know our lane.

We can’t.  If you try today to be very good, you will fail.

But, through God, all things are possible.

You can’t do it. God, through you, can do all things. All things.

Today, know your lane. But, also know God’s lane.  You are weak.  He is strong.  Trust in Him. And through Him, all things are possible.