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Proverbs 3:5-8, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones”
Isaiah 55:8, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways” declares the Lord”
Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose”
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You’ve just started your vacation! The luggage is crammed into the car, and what wouldn’t fit got tied on top! The traffic was fairly light except for those who were going to work. However, after a few hours of traveling along a beautiful highway, enjoying the scenery and beautiful sunny day – you were suddenly confronted with a big yellow and black sign that reads “DETOUR AHEAD.” Maybe a bridge is out or the highway is closed due to an accident and the traffic is being redirected.
Then there are some detours that are the result of simply missing the exit you wanted to take. The sign was there, as plain as the nose on your face, but you were consumed with conversation or thought, and you just didn’t see the sign where you had to turn. And when you realized it, you were confronted with your own made detour that was time consuming and lengthy.
Thus, detours take us off our intended route we had planned to take to get where we planned on going and they are typically unexpected and inconvenient. Detours certainly aren’t fun and are time-consuming, annoying, slows you down and takes you places you don’t want to go. I submit to you that roads aren’t the only place where there are detours. Let’s talk about the detours God has planned for you. We will call them “God’s Divine Detours”.
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God’s Divine Detours
The reality is that life is full of detours. They include your future plans, your health, investments and work. A detour may take you far astray and slow you down. However, the highway of life can’t always be straight and smooth. There must be hills, there must be rough spots, and occasionally there must be detours.
As believers in Christ, we have a destiny, and from an eternal perspective we know what our destiny is: to be in God’s presence forever, worshiping Him and working for Him in that eternal state. But our focus here is on our present journey—the one He has mapped out for us in this life. Putting it another way, we know where we’re going in the life to come, but where are we going in the life we have today? God has a plan for your life and a purpose for your existence.
The reason we weren’t taken to heaven the moment after we became born-again is because of the purpose on earth God desires us to fulfill. It’s not just to get a job, collect a paycheck, pay bills, or to have fun on the weekend. There is a God-designed stamp on our life. But God rarely ever takes us to that destiny apart from detours. He seldom takes us from point A to point B without causing us to make stops at C, D, and E along the way. As such, we almost never know which letter He will be pulling out of the hat next!
There is usually a very good reason for the detour, and we must as His children, accept them without question. Often times the detours of our personal goals that are divinely directed by God becomes a focus of complaint and discouragement. The detours and delays that occur in every believer in Christ may be one of sorrow, loneliness, illness or of grave disappointments. These detours are always for good reasons, and usually prepare us for greater responsibility, service and even greater blessing than before.
I enjoy reading the stories woven throughout the Bible of God’s grace and love. In the Old Testament, I am challenged as I wander along with God’s people, while they witness miracles, face testing, and how they grew in their faith. A good example of miracles, testing and faith is recorded through the experience of the children of Israel. What started out as a detour of perhaps 100 miles found in Exodus 13:17-18, developed into a delay of 40 long years before they were actually prepared to enter the Promised Land. A nation of slaves, carnal and fearful, selfish and complaining, critical and greedy, worldly and who worshiped idols, somehow had to become a nation of responsible citizens, disciplined and courageous, industrious and law-abiding, God-fearing and spiritual. This transformation required time, chastening and miraculous guidance, but it was all for their ultimate good and for the glory of God.
God uses detours as part of His design for our lives. Please consider the following examples recorded for us in God’s Word:
(1) Abraham is on a detour for twenty-five years while He waits for God to give him an heir (Genesis 12:1-4; 21:1-8);
(2) The Apostle Paul goes on a three-year detour in the Arabian Desert and Damascus waiting for his ministry to resume (Galatians 1:15-18);
(3) Joseph spends thirteen years on a detour enduring slavery and prison before entering Pharaoh’s service (Genesis 37:1-2; 41:46);
(4) Joseph does not blame his brothers for what they did to him because he sees God’s design in the detours (Genesis 50:19-21).
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Further Thoughts
Just like Abraham, Paul and Joseph, God takes us on detours to develop us for His purpose. Keeping these individuals in mind and as you view your own past and present detours, they usually meant new roads were being built or old ones were being fixed. Those detours in your life can be the very circumstances that set you on a new and better path and through it all you were able to see God’s hand in your detour. As the Scripture tells us in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” even the delays, detours and disappointments. Thus, some lessons we can learn from our detours could be:
(1) They appear suddenly and without warning – How suddenly detours appear! One day you’re perfectly well, but the next day you’re lying in a hospital. One day your home is intact and the next death has taken a loved one from you.
(2) We don’t know how long they will be – When the highway sign points out a detour, you take it without knowing how long it’s going to be. When life’s detours appear, we don’t know how long we will have to suffer, but we are hopeful at any moment to come back to the main highway.
(3) They are rough and winding – They always take you out of your way, delay your arrival at your destination, and must always be traveled slowly and carefully. Likewise, the detours of life require great patience for their traversing.
(4) They can also have good points – The scenery on the detour road is sometimes the most beautiful scenery, and so it is that the road which you are now traveling may bring you the greatest spiritual blessings and enjoyment of your life.
(5) They lead to an appreciation of the smooth highway – In the realm of living, the dark days we endure lead to an appreciation of the bright sunny ones. Thus, trouble, sorrow or affliction is never enjoyed; however, they help us to take full advantage of the good days, which the Lord so graciously gives to us.
(6) Accept the detours of life in good cheer and in the Spirit of Christ – There are many individuals who are cheerful during their suffering and who say, “I don’t understand it all, but I love God and trust Him completely.”
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Trusting God Completely During Our Detours:
In the midst of our detours; whatever they may be, we must trust God completely. Trust is the most basic of the characteristics of our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and sets the foundation for all the rest. The Hebrew word carries the meaning of confidence, or boldness, and is often used in such a way that it would imply that we are to “gain support” and “lean on” the One in whom we trust. Thus, we need to fully trust God and do good things, because the more good we do, the less chance evil has to succeed. We also need to take delight in God and His will and He has promised to provide for what we need.
Psalm 33:20-21, “Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in Him, Because we have trusted in His holy name” and Psalm 143:8, “Cause me to hear Your loving kindness in the morning, For in You do I trust; Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, For I lift up my soul to You”
The more we immerse ourselves in God, His Eternal Word, and His promises, the less we will worry over the troubles of this world, especially if you know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And above all take to heart His words in Matthew 6:34, “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.” So, as you choose to trust Him every day, He will give you rest for your soul and heart and your mind will be filled with His love, peace, and joy that passeth all understanding.
Many times, we are often disappointed regarding circumstances and people; however, we must be aware of God’s love, grace and lean heavily upon Him for He is One who never fails or disappoints His children. Thus, we can truly say with all confidence, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
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Closing Illustration
A sudden squall swept down with almost hurricane force through the funnel-like ravines above the lake of Tiberias, 682 feet below sea level. Hugh waves washed into the little boat, threatening to sink it. Terrified, the disciples of Jesus wakened Him. How could He sleep through the shrieking winds and ship-tossing tempest? “Do You not care that we are perishing?” they shouted (Mark 4:38). Calmly Jesus arose and commanded the raging storm to cease. Then, amid the calm and the darkness, He asked two questions of His awe-stricken disciples. If He were here today, He would ask those who are born again by His precious blood, the same two questions:
(1) Why are you so fearful?
(2) How is it that you have no faith or trust?
As we travel through the sea of life, terrifying gales may threaten to overwhelm us. Many times we are worried and troubled over illness or our feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome and we cry out to our seemingly indifferent Lord, “Don’t You care about my problems?” And Christ, completely in control of every circumstance of your life, gently and lovingly rebukes us for failing to exercise faith and trust in Him.
Jesus taught us how we can handle life’s routine, “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. In faith and with prayer, we can break life and its often wearisome tasks into bite-size pieces, entrusting the unpredictable future and even the present detours to the grace of Him who promises that “as your days, so shall your strength be” (Deuteronomy 33:25), and He urges each of us to trust in His almighty and all-wise sovereignty each day and especially during the trials and detours He places in our path.
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Jeremiah 32:27, “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?”
His Eternal Word 
Reblogged this on clydeherrin.
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