Taking the Long Road - Martin Wiles

Welcome to Meandering Monday, where we take a trip back to an earlier post and enjoy it again.

When Pharaoh finally let the people go, God did not lead them along the main road that runs through Philistine territory, even though that was the shortest route to the Promised Land. Exodus 13:17 NLT

We weren’t interested in taking the long road home, but afterward, we were glad we had.

My wife and I were on our honeymoon in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Fall was in the air, and winter would soon arrive. As we ate breakfast, we watched large snowflakes arch earthward. We decided to visit Cades Cove. Taking the ten-mile loop through the snow-dusted valleys was breathtaking.

We planned to take Newfound Gap Road on our return home, but inclement weather had closed the road. Conditions forced us to return to Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, Sevierville, and finally to the interstate that would carry us home. Though it was a longer road home, we enjoyed the views. 

God’s people had languished in Egyptian slavery for four hundred years. When God finally delivered them, he wasn’t about to guide them along the shortest route to the Promised Land. Doing so would have pummeled them into the midst of their enemies, the Philistines. Faced with this danger, they probably would have turned tail for Egypt.

I enjoy shortcuts—when driving and otherwise. Give me a keyboard shortcut on my computer that will perform an action faster than the mouse, and I’ll use it. Show me a back road that will take me where I’m going quicker and with less traffic, and I’m ready. God, however, has a habit of taking me the long way around, which tests my patience and sometimes makes me question his dependability.

I’ve learned to trust God’s heart when I can’t understand what he’s doing—which is most of the time. Trusting him develops patience—an honorable trait since I tend to be the impatient type.

God’s long way around may very well protect us from an unforeseen danger as it did the Israelites. The long way around certainly increases our trust in God, since those long-way-around trips take us into what appear to be out-of-the-way places.

Trust God’s love and wisdom when he takes you the long way around.

Prayer: Father, build our trust so we will follow You no matter what route You lead us down. 

Tweetable: Is God taking you down a longer road? 

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