DETOURS AND 'U-TURNS'

Hello there!

It's been a minute, sorry I wasn't here last week, missed me? Cause I missed you too. 

Welcome to today's gist. 

So a couple of weeks ago, I was reading the exodus of the Israelites. Finally, after God had showed Pharaoh the shege that he had been courting by refusing to let the people of Israel go (Exodus 5 to 12), the people of Israel finally were free to leave Egypt and what a glorious exit it was! Like God said, they left with the spoil and riches of Egypt. The Bible then records in Exodus 13:17 that when God led the people of Israel out of Egypt, He decided not to lead them through the land of the Philistines because He didn't want them to see war and become disheartened so He decided to take through the wilderness by the Red Sea. Now of course cutting through the land of the Philistines would have been a shorter route to Canaan than going through the wilderness but here's the thing, going through this shorter route would have exposed them to the wars that were rife in the area before they would have been ready. 

A little bit of context, the Israelites had been slaves in Egypt for about 400 years and were master builders and farmers and other sundry jobs that slaves were prone to do. But warriors? No they weren't that, that was way above their pay grade. They were not used to the art of war and they definitely hadn't experienced war. So exposing them to war so soon after their exodus would have probably made their hearts scared and possibly turned them back to the "safety of Egypt". So God decided to take through another route. 

When they went through this longer route, they encountered the Red Sea, hunger, thirst and lack of water…. They went through a lot of things that built them into "hard guys", so when in Exodus 17 they met war, they were ready. They had seen things and were now in the position to do war without giving in to the urge to "run back to safety". 

And as I thought about this journey God led them through, I realized that sometimes God takes me through a different route in my journey than I would have chosen, or even thought necessary and is, of course, longer than my preferred route. So I'm annoyed, frustrated and sad that I am having to take an "unnecessary" detour, and when I finally get to where I'm going, I'm wondering why God took me on this unnecessarily long journey only to have me land at where I'd have landed if I had taken my preferred route, at least in my mind that's what I think would have been the case. 

But here's the thing, God who saw all that taking my preferred route would entail, and knew my unreadiness to handle that, decided to take me through an understandably longer route that had the effect of building me in ways the shorter route would never have. 

So, you see it's like my father says, the end never justifies the means, rather the means justifies the end. The things that God gives us become even sweeter to enjoy when we've gone through the process He takes us through because we now have better appreciation for where we're at.

I will not lie to you and say that it's easy or sweet to take these detours that God takes us through: personally I've had to do quite a number of them in my life so believe me when I say it's not always palatable, almost never is actually, so when I'm wishing to go through the 'sweet and easy way', I'm forgetting that the end of the way that seems right to a man is destruction (Proverbs 14:12). But when you follow God's pace and directions, you can be sure that you'll get everything that you need as you need it and will in the end turn out to be that well-rounded person God intends you to be, a person you can only become when you follow His directions. 

So the next time you hear "this is the way, walk in it", abeg try walk in it, that's where your assurance of becoming who you're meant to be is. 

May God help us to continue to walk in His way and at His pace. 

NLS HOT GIST: The definition of cold in Port-Harcourt is unlike I've ever seen in my life. Before I came to this place, when you go to buy a cold drink, you're given something that's cold to the touch, however in Port-Harcourt, at least the parts I've seen so far, cold simply means 'e no hot'. So when I go to buy a cold drink, 85 percent of the time, I end up with something that's little cooler than room temperature which is insane because this city is hot!!!

See you next week. 

Love,

Achenyo.