Divine Detour?
Not again.
Congestion. Cars bumper to bumper. And very little movement.
Right after our beautiful detour on I-75, we hit another snag.
We inched along. My foot eased on and off the brake every few minutes, and progress proved slow. So, like before, I jumped off the highway and asked for directions around the mess.
The girl at the gas station denied me.
“Traffic’s moving,” she insisted.
But is there another way?
“It’ll get going in a bout four miles,” she said still ringing up people. “I just came through it.”
But how do I get around it?
“It’s easier to just wait.” she insisted.
That made me mad: I didn’t want to inch along. I wanted to keep it moving, and I wanted to detour. And who was she to tell me which way I had to go?
I wanted off the highway.
So, I asked another lady at a second gas station.
“Traffic’s moving,” she said. “Best to just to wait it out.”
Her we go again, I thought.
A few more questions, however, and she gave me directions.
Dang: I should have listened to them both.
This is the flip side of last week’s Monday Morning Inspiration. The first detour was divine. It led me around a horrendous stand still and through some beautiful territory.
This one – didn’t.
Last week, I talked about King David attacking the Philistines. In 2 Samuel 5:22-25, he inquired of the Lord and God told him “Do not go straight up, but circle around behind them and attack them.”
Using this verse, I explained that some of us can’t travel along, safe well-worn paths. We’ve got to “circle around behind them,” go up and get the victory.
And that’s real.
At other times, we’ve got to “be still and know He is God.” Sometimes, we’ve just got to sit in traffic, inch along and wait out the angst.
Wish I’d done that – this last detour was crazy.
It took me through some dark, dank backwater places that were miles and miles out of the way. I was just driving. Endlessly. And nothing about it was scenic. In fact, this landscape was depressing. There were shacks falling apart, abandoned trailers, old school buses. And I was by myself: no other cars seemed to have gotten my bright idea. I stopped several times thinking I’d missed the detour back to I-75.
I retraced my steps, but never saw a sign.
My daughter got scared and begged me to go all the way back to the highway. I refused. I kept thinking I can make it, and I did. But not before driving some of the most treacherous roadway I’ve ever driven. At some point, I hit this mountainous area with a steep drop-off on one side. There was railing, but several people had proven it ineffective: it was smashed in, mangled and just missing in some spots.
I could see why.
The road was a tight “S.” I mean you couldn’t come out of one turn before you hit another. It was maddening and I was doing about five miles an hour. It was crazy.
Again, it would have been better to sit in traffic, inch along and wait out my angst. Instead I was mad. Hungry. Tired. And two hours out of the way.
That’s what happens when we plot our own paths – or follow worldly ways. We get so far away from God and where he wants us to be. We’re lost, and the enemy’s pummeling us with one scary twist after another.
So, how do we know which path to take?
How do we know when it’s a divine detour and we’re to “circle around behind them?” And, when do we stay put, go through and just “be still and know?”
The answer lies again in 2 Samuel 5:22-25: we ask.
See, David fought the Philistines many times.
Many, many times.
But still, he inquired of the Lord. He didn’t take for granted the victory was his. He didn’t assume, “Well, it worked for me last time, maybe it’ll work out this time.”
No, he asked God.
Read through those chapters, and you’ll see that time and again: David inquired of the Lord. We’ve got to be the same way. We’ve got to ask God what his will is – is He with us? Will He give us the victory? Which way do we go? What’s our path – our very specific, personal path to His divine purposes?
We won’t know until we ask.
Now, I feel like I have to clarify something: this week’s writing doesn’t cancel last week’s. Several got encouraged. Several got set free. And several are ready to go where God is taking going. You’re ready to “circle around behind them and attack them.”
You’ve still got to go.
It’s your destiny. It’s your path.
Fear of a frightening detour can’t kill your passion. You’ve got to go because God told you to go.
You already know that. You’ve inquired and you know.
And once we’ve heard from God – our only task is obedience.
That’s how we know we’re going somewhere surreal and magnificent: God told us so.
Know that I love you each, L.
Congestion. Cars bumper to bumper. And very little movement.
Right after our beautiful detour on I-75, we hit another snag.
We inched along. My foot eased on and off the brake every few minutes, and progress proved slow. So, like before, I jumped off the highway and asked for directions around the mess.
The girl at the gas station denied me.
“Traffic’s moving,” she insisted.
But is there another way?
“It’ll get going in a bout four miles,” she said still ringing up people. “I just came through it.”
But how do I get around it?
“It’s easier to just wait.” she insisted.
That made me mad: I didn’t want to inch along. I wanted to keep it moving, and I wanted to detour. And who was she to tell me which way I had to go?
I wanted off the highway.
So, I asked another lady at a second gas station.
“Traffic’s moving,” she said. “Best to just to wait it out.”
Her we go again, I thought.
A few more questions, however, and she gave me directions.
Dang: I should have listened to them both.
This is the flip side of last week’s Monday Morning Inspiration. The first detour was divine. It led me around a horrendous stand still and through some beautiful territory.
This one – didn’t.
Last week, I talked about King David attacking the Philistines. In 2 Samuel 5:22-25, he inquired of the Lord and God told him “Do not go straight up, but circle around behind them and attack them.”
Using this verse, I explained that some of us can’t travel along, safe well-worn paths. We’ve got to “circle around behind them,” go up and get the victory.
And that’s real.
At other times, we’ve got to “be still and know He is God.” Sometimes, we’ve just got to sit in traffic, inch along and wait out the angst.
Wish I’d done that – this last detour was crazy.
It took me through some dark, dank backwater places that were miles and miles out of the way. I was just driving. Endlessly. And nothing about it was scenic. In fact, this landscape was depressing. There were shacks falling apart, abandoned trailers, old school buses. And I was by myself: no other cars seemed to have gotten my bright idea. I stopped several times thinking I’d missed the detour back to I-75.
I retraced my steps, but never saw a sign.
My daughter got scared and begged me to go all the way back to the highway. I refused. I kept thinking I can make it, and I did. But not before driving some of the most treacherous roadway I’ve ever driven. At some point, I hit this mountainous area with a steep drop-off on one side. There was railing, but several people had proven it ineffective: it was smashed in, mangled and just missing in some spots.
I could see why.
The road was a tight “S.” I mean you couldn’t come out of one turn before you hit another. It was maddening and I was doing about five miles an hour. It was crazy.
Again, it would have been better to sit in traffic, inch along and wait out my angst. Instead I was mad. Hungry. Tired. And two hours out of the way.
That’s what happens when we plot our own paths – or follow worldly ways. We get so far away from God and where he wants us to be. We’re lost, and the enemy’s pummeling us with one scary twist after another.
So, how do we know which path to take?
How do we know when it’s a divine detour and we’re to “circle around behind them?” And, when do we stay put, go through and just “be still and know?”
The answer lies again in 2 Samuel 5:22-25: we ask.
See, David fought the Philistines many times.
Many, many times.
But still, he inquired of the Lord. He didn’t take for granted the victory was his. He didn’t assume, “Well, it worked for me last time, maybe it’ll work out this time.”
No, he asked God.
Read through those chapters, and you’ll see that time and again: David inquired of the Lord. We’ve got to be the same way. We’ve got to ask God what his will is – is He with us? Will He give us the victory? Which way do we go? What’s our path – our very specific, personal path to His divine purposes?
We won’t know until we ask.
Now, I feel like I have to clarify something: this week’s writing doesn’t cancel last week’s. Several got encouraged. Several got set free. And several are ready to go where God is taking going. You’re ready to “circle around behind them and attack them.”
You’ve still got to go.
It’s your destiny. It’s your path.
Fear of a frightening detour can’t kill your passion. You’ve got to go because God told you to go.
You already know that. You’ve inquired and you know.
And once we’ve heard from God – our only task is obedience.
That’s how we know we’re going somewhere surreal and magnificent: God told us so.
Know that I love you each, L.
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