The Fastest Route

The Fastest Route

"There you saw how the Lord your God carried you,
as a father carries his son, all the way you went..."
Deuteronomy 1:31

With another trip to New York on the calendar for next week, the day after Thanksgiving for my 40th high school reunion, taking the most direct, fastest route will, as always, be a high priority. There are a couple options of course: one is going through Ohio, around Lake Erie and into Rochester. That route is longer but you can go over 400 miles without a single stoplight and without the inconvenience of border crossings and delays. The scenic route goes along Lake Ontario with awesome scenes of apple orchards, vineyards and beautiful shoreline, but it's not as direct and takes longer. The fastest route is going through Canada, hassling with the delays at the border, exchange rates at Tim Horton's, paying tolls on the New York State Thruway, and avoiding the many speed traps set up along the way.

One point about the story of the children of Israel going through the wilderness, journeying from Egypt to the Promised Land, has always enamored me. It's found in Deuteronomy 1:2 where it says simply:

"It takes 11 days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir Road"

We know from the scriptures that they didn't take the fastest, most direct route because they hadn't learned war; they hadn't learned how to fight the battles they would face to get into the inheritance God had promised them. The fastest route wasn't an option for people who couldn't deal with enemies and battles and warfare. They came to the border of the promised land two years after leaving Egypt but they responded in unbelief to the negative reports of ten of the spies, they refused to trust the God who delivered them from the bondage of Egypt, and weren't able to enter at that time either.

38 years later they came to the border of the land God had promised them. Led by Joshua they entered into a land "flowing with mild and honey", symbolic of a life flowing with the favor and blessing of God. It is incredible to think that a journey that could have been made in 11 days ended up taking 40 years but it provides us with lessons for the journey we are on:

*If you aren't prepared in your heart to fight some battles along the way, your personal journey into the life God intended for you will take longer than planned. The Christian life includes fighting the enemy of our souls but doing it with the knowledge that "we are more than conquerors through him who loved us".

*If you are someone who doubts God and who struggles with unbelief when things don't work out as you want or hope, you will find the way blocked into the greater things of God. Trusting God and living by faith in God are essentials to entering into the incredible promises found in His Word.

*If you struggle with inconvenience and delay, with God's timing being different than ours, and with the cost of serving Him, sacrifice, denial and obedience, your journey may be a little longer than you were hoping for.

The spiritual journey we're on can either be a quick one or a long one, depending upon how we respond to the challenges we face, and the attitude and passion we seek the Lord with. Think of it: 11 days or 40 years! The choice is ours.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church