Vertigo is defined as a sensation of dizziness, with a feeling that you are being whirled about in your environment. The term “vertigo” is sometimes used when training people to fly, especially when they learn to fly using instruments without being able to see where they’re going. Unless a pilot learns to pay attention to his instruments, he’ll feel as if he is being whirled about, and he’ll quickly get disoriented and crash. A new pilot swiftly learns that if his instrument panel tells him he is upside down–even if he feels as if he’s right-side up, he must heed the information from the instrument panel and turn the plane right side up.

In learning to use an instrument panel, new pilots practice being in “spatial disorientation.” They’re put into a pressurized cabin at night and turned upside down, and then right side up, and so on. At a certain point, the pilot doesn’t know if he’s upside down or right-side up. He doesn’t know if he’s looking at the star-studded sky above or the sparkling lights of the city below–unless he checks the instrument panel.

The instrument panel is not hampered by “feelings,” nor is it blinded by clouds or fog around the plane. Simply put, the instrument panel cannot be fooled and does not lie. The Holy Spirit wants to be our instrument panel because He will not be swayed by what we see, hear or feel. The Holy Spirit is only concerned with the truth.

The pilot must make a lifetime commitment to follow the instrument panel; and we have to make a lifetime commitment to follow the Holy Spirit.