Have you ever felt like your life took a detour? We’ve probably all been there in some way or another. I thought I knew exactly what I was walking into this year and through a series of painful events my plans fell apart and I found myself on a detour. The thing about detours is that we never see them coming. By their very nature they catch us off guard and turn us around. The good news is no matter how they arrive or what they involve, detours are never a surprise to God. In fact, I think He often uses detours to put us on the right path for our destiny. When God led Israel out of Egypt, He took them on a detour.
“When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although it was near. For God said, “Lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt. But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle.” (Exodus 13:17-18)
God saw fit to lead his people in a way that was a longer route, but in the best interest for them. Israel panicked as they saw the Egyptians get closer. I can just imagine their fear and frustration in chapter 14 as they cry out to the Lord. “They said to Moses ‘Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” (Exodus 14:11-12) Detours often bring confusion, frustration, anger, and fears. I have felt every one of these as I’ve tried to understand God’s plan. I listened to a message recently where the speaker talked about Satan’s agenda to keep us from our God given destiny. The enemy doesn’t want us to fulfill our God given gifts and callings. He wants us to detour away from a life surrendered to God. He plays on our fear of abandonment, our impatience, and our hurts in every attempt to pull us into a pit of despair and a path of destruction. But God has a way of using everything for our good (Romans 8:28-29). As I’ve been thinking on this truth and praying about how the Lord may be leading me next, I’ve circled around a few thoughts about God’s agenda for detours and how a change of course can sometimes be a gift.
God protects His people. I love the way God chose to part the waters for His people to walk through to safety. By the power of God the same waters that parted for Israel also swallowed up the Egyptians. My situation also had God’s protection written all over it. This isn’t the time or place to go into details about my breakup and truthfully to do so would take away from the focus of this post, which is to encourage someone else. But let me just say that sometimes God protects us from what we think we want. Someone once said that with God, even His “no” has goodness written all over it. I have found a depth of truth in that statement through this experience more than any other. I cling to the same promises Moses gave Israel. “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today.[…]. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”(Exodus 14:13-14) What an amazing comfort to know the same God is fighting for us!
God goes with His people. When detours arise it’s so easy to believe the lies of the enemy. He seeks to fill our heart and mind with lies and to give us a fear that we’ve been abandoned or forgotten by God. I have found this to be the reason I must drive out the lies with TRUTH. “And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.” God did not leave the people of Israel and He does not leave us. No matter what we face or how alone we feel, we serve a God who knows and sees and walks with us leading us to our destiny.
God sees what we can’t see. It’s hard to trust when you can’t see what’s ahead. As Israel was fleeing Egypt, they couldn’t see what God was doing. They could only look back and see danger closing in. They doubted what God was about to do. They thought they knew a better way. Isn’t that how we are with God often times when things don’t go as planned? Sometimes there’s so much pain in the past that it’s easier to worry about a painful future than to trust God in the midst of something we don’t understand. We must cling to the promises of God and trust His way is better. “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9) I love how these verses emphasize the grand goodness of God!
God has a purpose. When God led Israel out of Egypt, He had a purpose to receive the glory. At the same time Israel learned to fear God. As much as I love and miss North Carolina, I knew the past year God was preparing to send me out. The details of the sending now look different from what I thought, but the mission is still the same. I’m excited to see where God will plant me to make disciples and share His love in this next season. Even so, I’m realizing the detour really isn’t about me at all. It’s about the work God is doing for His glory. Elisabeth Elliot once wrote, “God will never protect you from anything that makes you more like Jesus.” I think that’s where the purpose begins. It’s about refinement. My purpose in life is to point people to Jesus and to love them with the same love He has lavished on me. It’s in His goodness that He refines us, breaks us and reshapes us to look more like Him, for His glory.
Detours look different for everyone. There’s an enormous amount of pain when those detours involve loss. Praise God that He sees our pain and knows it. He understands and comforts His children in a way no one else can. Let’s praise the Father for His goodness in the storm. In counseling we say “every person is either going into a crisis, in the midst of a crisis, or coming out of a crisis”. No matter which place you find yourself in, I hope and pray there will be some encouragement for you knowing that God is with you and for you. I believe He will use everything you and I face to equip us for His purposes and to use us for His glory. Keep your eyes on Him. Decide to run the race for him, even when the path you were on veers in a new direction. Why? Because whatever He has for you is SO MUCH BETTER than anything you could ever choose or plan for yourself. His Word says that as humans we can make all the plans for life we want, but it is God who established our steps (Proverbs 16:9). We can trust even in hard times, that ultimately what He has for us is good because He himself is good and He is faithful. As I focus on the goodness of my Father in Heaven I can honestly say I’m excited to see what comes next on this adventure with Jesus! I hope you’ll stick around to see God work!
Mercy Abides 