Why the long way?

When we took the road to Santa Clara, and the bottom fell out from under us and we were wondering how one earth we fell off the cliff of God’s will, I remember our pastor from back home said to me, “With God the shortest distance between two points is often a really long squiggly line.”

Speaking of a squiggly line, can you see the red route that the nation of Israel took when God led them out of Egypt and into the promised land?  Doesn’t that help put into perspective what is meant by “wanderings” in the desert? Good grief!

It’s a good thing that I can’t see a pictorial rendition of my own life’s wanderings. I know I’d see the endless red circles and shake my head: God, you’ve got to be kidding me.

I’ll admit it sometimes baffles me when I look at a situation, then see the way God “handled” it. I mean isn’t there a much simpler way? Even with church-planting, I shake my head sometimes thinking over the past year and the slow, circular, circuitous route we’ve often taken. Things are awesome now and even this past weekend had me overwhelmed with God’s power in establishing our little church body. But surely there is a shorter way??!

Why does God so often take us on a circuitous route? Let’s look at a few nuggets as related to the nation of Israel — perhaps a few will apply to where you are today.

1. The long way leads to our success.

Scripture says in Exodus 13 that

“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 lead the people around the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea” (vv17-18).

God knew that no matter what way they took there would be opposition.  Obstacles are inevitable. So He chose the path that would force them to keep moving forward–for they had no other option (Remember, He loves it when we run out of options!).  He knew that if they could see a back door, they’d take it and hurry scurry back to captivity as fast as their sandals could carry them.

He chose the long route, which guaranteed they would stick to the plan.

In other words, it was His kindness that led them in circles. He was, by his sovereign plan, guaranteeing their success. Now, not all of them succeeded. An entire generation rejected God’s long way, complained bitterly, and perished in the wilderness because of their disobedience.  But God’s plan succeeded. Had they gone back to Egypt, their children and all following generations would not have seen the promised land. But as it was, only those who rejected this long road died before seeing it–the children, and all the generations after that, did indeed see it.  

God fulfilled His promise, and his Kingdom work with the nation of Israel remains today.

Wherever God is leading you in the long way, rest in His goodness and His plan. 

The long way leads to your success.

{Do you believe that God will take you the long way so that you will succeed? So that you won’t turn back? Can you see how it is His kindness that makes the journey long? On Friday we’ll look at a few more reasons God leads us on the long way. Praying this can encourage you today. Thanks for reading.}