The Long Way

I heard a sermon a few weeks ago that stopped me dead in my tracks. Matt Chandler's voice boomed through the kitchen as I quickly tried to prep the appetizers for our Bible study that night. Partway through his series in Exodus, he was preaching on the actual exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, that moment when God finally ended their slavery and delivered them out from under the Egyptians.  He read in Exodus 13:17-18, where it said, "When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, 'Lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.' But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle."

And it was this commentary that stopped me with my knife frozen in mid-chop: "It was the mercy of God that led them the long way."

God knew that Israel wasn't ready to see the land of the Philistines. For goodness' sake, they were quite the lot of doubters as it was. And so, in his great mercy and wisdom, God took them in a more circuitous, winding path - certainly not the shortest or most direct. He was equipping Israel as he led them the long way. He was building their faith in him and was preparing them to route the enemy and take the Promised Land. And, because of that, his chosen route for his chosen people likely made little sense to them.

It was the mercy of God that led them the long way.

It was the mercy of God that led us the long way.

Now, I am quite confident that we will never understand God's timing this side of heaven (or perhaps that side, either!), and I am also quite confident that we often seek to find meaning in the midst and the wake of our suffering. Often, we are called to rest in the knowledge that his ways are higher than our ways and we just will never know the why of things sometimes.  But, this I know: long or short, it is God's mercy that has led us on this path. It is his wisdom that has laid the bricks and his loving care that has held us every step of the way.

To God be the glory.