Exodus 13:18 God led them in a roundabout way through the wilderness toward the Red Sea.
We would cringe and mourn when we see ‘detour sign’ rerouting our road trip. Detours leave hideous memories of grumpy children and messed up plans in our journey. God muddled the plan of Moses and gave him a map to take the throng through a longer scenic route!
There were two routes to Canaan “the Way of the Philistines” and “the Way of the Wilderness”. There was a north-south 1000 mile long superhighway of trade and travel that followed along the Mediterranean Sea coast and the other route was a 200-mile east-west trade route. God chose the longer route which lead them towards the Red Sea (The Reed Sea in Hebrew). He strategically hemmed the multitude between the Red Sea and Pharaoh to experience one of the greatest miracles (Parting of the Red Sea) that humanity has ever experienced. God’s maps are pregnant with miracles. The roundabout route became indelible not only to the Hebrew fugitives but is pertinent and poignant to us even today.
In God’s google-map, some journeys are simply meant to be roundabout to experience His might, power and splendor. When we miss an opportunity to a shortcut elevation or redirected towards a longer course, the ludicrous circuit is God’s pathway to His promises and blessings.
He is the God of directions, detours and diversions:
- Evade: The Hebrew refugees were in slavery for 430 years before they embarked on the exodus but they were not trained for challenges or battles. God led them away from the shorter route and redirected them to take the 1000-mile superhighway (Way of the Wilderness) to avoid the attack of the Philistine army. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt” (Exodus 13:17b). If blessings are taking longer than expected, the redirections, detours and diversion are just to evade insidious attacks and equip us for war. Redirection is Gods winning formula to equip us.
- Endure: Endurance is the season of waiting between budding and fruiting. When the farmer sees the flowers he would know what to expect but he would have to patiently wait and protect the orchard for the flowers to become fruits. The trail of detours builds patience, perseverance and endurance to harvest the fruits of the promise. A promise is only a flower. It cannot be plucked from the tree. It has to remain and be nourished by the tree to mature into a delicious fruit. Similarly, waiting matures us to receive the blessings. Endurance is God’s vitamins to build resistance.
- Empower: The trapped Hebrew slaves witnessed the power of God splitting the Red Sea to protect them and converging the sea to destroy the enemy. Faith is built by hearing but it is fortified by witnessing and experiencing. The implausibly long roundabout route trains us to live by faith and not by sight. Roundabout routes are God’s bootcamp to empower us.
The incredibly long waits are to equip, build endurance and to empower us. We are not there yet, but we are being up-skilled, molded and educated to get there.
When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter (Exodus 13:17).
Prayer: Jesus, you are my guide and my light. Lead me in the path that you have designed for me. It might be a roundabout route but it is your training boot camp to empower me. Amen.
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