While on this journey to Brazil…and believe me it IS a journey…there’s a big part of me that keeps saying, “How come I only get to spend such a fraction of my day on getting to Brazil? How come I feel like I’m bursting to go but I keep running up against roadblocks one way or the other? How come I can't be in Brazil at this very moment?”
In the midst of those questions, in the midst of being wildly impatient and selfish and arrogant and a million other words that mean “whack,” I feel like God reminded me of a simple question...
“Why do you keep refusing the gift of the desert road?”
That’s kind of a weird question, but it comes out of Exodus 13: 17-18. As the Israelites are leaving Egypt, the Bible says:
"When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle."
I love the simplicity of that. God knew that if the Israelites took the short way, if they took what probably seemed like the logical route, they’d face a war they weren’t ready for and would probably willingly return to slavery. So out of love, out a deep, big love for His people, he took them on the desert road.
As an Israelite, having spent decades doing hardcore physical labor and leading the kind of manual labor lifestyle that puts the P90X exercise program to shame, you’d have to be thinking, “What? I’m armed for battle! The desert road? Seriously? Look at this sword, I’ve got skillz! Let’s take the short way and give the Philistines two tickets to the gun show.”
OK, maybe they wouldn’t have thought that last sentence, but I promise that they probably felt a little confused at why they were on the desert road. And maybe at some point in your own life you’ve felt that way too. Maybe you’ve felt ready for something and for some reason instead found yourself taking the long way around.
I don’t know what your “thing” is.
Maybe you want to fall in love and get married.
Maybe you’re at a job that doesn’t use your God-given talents and you feel desperate to get out.
Maybe you want to start a ministry.
Maybe you don’t know what your thing is, but you know it’s not what you’re doing right now.
Maybe you want to have kids.
Maybe you want to head out to the mission field overseas.
Your thing, your dream or goal or vision could be a million different things, and when it doesn’t happen, when it takes longer than we want, it’s so easy to get frustrated. To get disappointed. To think that the time delay is because maybe you’re not doing something right. Maybe God is mad at you. Maybe if you were a better Christian things would be happening faster and you wouldn’t be on a desert road.
But what if that’s not right?
What if God loves you too much to send you to war? What if He loves you too much to throw you into situations you’re not ready for?
What if that desert road is a gift?
- Adapted from www.stuffchristianslike.net
2 comments:
Sometimes on the desert road the drinks of water are far between.
But, there always is a drink.
Wow Ames, I love that one. It really sums up the way I can be feeling many days. I know that I have to be patient, but sometimes it is hard to remember what the journey is all about...
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