The Long Way Around
He promised them freedom. A land flowing with milk and honey, protection from their enemies, and off they traveled, out of Egypt step by step into a shaky relationship with their God – an exercise of faith and trust.
God took the Israelites the long way. He didn’t take them on the “super-God short cut”. The easy peasy way- the Autobahn at high speed.
He didn’t put them on a jet and say have a nice comfy flight, here is your in flight beverage and a pillow for your head.
No- he knew their hearts. He knew the people intimately, personally. He saw the rough craggy places that needed to be shaved away, he saw the weak places that would falter and fail.
He knew what would be required of them and that they didn’t have the heart of a warrior. They had been slaves. He knew they would not have the heart to go into battle and the shortcut, well that required battle- and it would mean war. Their Father knew they weren’t ready for that, weren’t ready to face the giants that awaited in the land so he took them the long way around.
He put them through boot camp- well the 40-year-plan. They had to earn blisters and then calluses before they were ready to get where they were going.
40 years of God leading them through the dry places, serving them His M.R.E.’s, teaching them to lean on him, and waiting for them to be ready. Years of trusting him for water from the rock and bread from his own hand. Of trusting that the shoes he led them out of captivity in would be the same shoes that got them through. To trust the word of their Father that when he said it was possible you could stand on that promise, because He was their foundation and He was for them.
They had to go through training before they could enjoy what he gave them. They had to go the long way, the scenic route, the back road, the non-direct path.
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
Abraham is a perfect example of the back roads, of God leading down the indirect paths. God led him away from everything and everyone he knew, his neighbors probably whispered that he was crazy but he went. He followed God from place to place, but the story isn’t about his destination. It’s the places along his “road trip” the experiences that the bible tells.
God has a history of taking people the non-direct route, the way that doesn’t make sense- to teach a lesson before you reach the destination. Almost as if it’s not so much the place but the journey there that matters. It’s on the trip that you learn to rely upon, to lean on Him. It’s on the exhausting hikes and endless curves in the road that you grow closer to Him and learn to hear His voice. It’s in hanging onto Him that He files away a little more of the world to make room for Himself.
Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
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What a great reminder! I needed it!!