“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Matthew 7:13-14
Sometimes the greatest learning in life comes from the roads we are afraid to take or the detours we didn’t mean to take.
There are numerous choices we make in a lifetime, and one of those choices is choosing how to deal with life’s circumstances and surprises. Today, in the lives of many, those circumstances and surprises have led to depression, low self-esteem, and even suicide. Most of us are hesitant to face our problems head-on. When we are at a crossroad, we tend to choose the most popular and easy road, rather than the road that we are less familiar with. We settle for the road that is without risks or one that will not take us out of our comfort zone. I’m reminded of the poem “The Road Not Taken,” written by Robert Frost:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Our hopes, dreams, and ambitions have a lot to do with the roads we choose to take in life. The truth about the choice of the roads we take is that all roads have hidden dangers, and at times, unexpected detours. Although we can be influenced by people, environments, or things, the decision as to what road we take in life is a personal decision we make. But when faith in God becomes a part of our decision-making, we don’t have to make that decision alone. God will be our guide. There is a frequently quoted pair of verses in the book Proverbs that discourages us from making decisions on our own:
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6
God has a plan
Most of us want a successful life, but the mistake many make is assuming that a successful life is a good and prosperous life down here on earth. To be honest, a successful life begins with a life with Christ in this life and continues with a life with Him after leaving this life on earth.
At this point, you may ask, “So, if I have faith in God and seek His help in choosing the right path or road to take in life, will that road will be a smooth road?” Well, not exactly. The road God leads you to take is not just a road towards a successful life down here on earth, but it’s a road that leads us towards fulfilling an eternal plan He has for us that goes beyond this life. And because of that eternal plan, we will face many challenges and detours along the way, some of them unforeseen.
Why the challenges and detours? We face these challenges and detours because we have an adversary called Satan, who despises anything God does, especially good things for us. Satan wants to do anything he can against us to stop us from having a personal relationship with God. At all costs, he will attempt to get us to forfeit our eternal inheritance of eternal life with God. If we are going to get victory over his attacks, we must have so much faith in God and the direction He has pointed us that we will not be deterred or defeated.
So, will we run into detours traveling a road with Christ? Yes, we will. Life’s detours compel us to search for a better life, but understanding and facing the reality of what happens during our search gives us the ability to cope with it. What is that reality? Well, simply put, life detours are not bad for us if we look at them through the lens of faith in God. Other than having faith in God, all the detours we face in life force us to learn obedience, especially since some of the detours we face in life are because of our disobedience.
For instance, when we get distracted by dangerous emotions (anger, fear, jealousy, sadness, lowliness, etc.), unholy conversations, negative thoughts, and distorted perceptions about life, we miss or fail to be obedient to the warning sign. Well in advance, the warning signs instruct us to make a turn off the detrimental road we are traveling. We miss the turn that would have safely led us to our destination and even, deliverance. We run into the danger, but It’s only when we decide to turn around and turn from our dangerous emotions, unholy conversations, negative thoughts, and distorted perceptions over to God that we find ourselves going in the right direction toward safety, security, and deliverance.
Some detours you will have no control over
Are there detours in life that you have no control over? Yes, there are. For example, an honor student may be at the top of his class, and because of another student’s jealousy, he may be bullied every day he walks into the school. He is facing a detour. The bullying was not the honor student’s fault; he had no control over the jealous student’s words, but does have control over his response to them. He can choose to give this attack to God. Other than reporting the bullying student, on a personal level, the honor student must patiently pray about this detour he faces and invoke scripture in faith, such as this one:
“Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” Romans12:19
Most of us, when we are traveling on a road and come upon a detour, get frustrated and annoyed because the detour causes us to go out of our way to get to where we are traveling. We get so upset about losing time and going in a direction we didn’t tend to go. Some of us, for some reason or another, continue driving, only to find that we ran out of road or into the danger, having to turn back around and follow the direction of the detour, or in a worst-case scenario, fall victim to the hazard that caused the detour.
Detours are like a promise from God. It’s as if the detour arrow is saying, “If you go this direction, you will be protected from the danger that lies ahead of you.” God knows what lies ahead of us and He has made a promise that He will protect us from the danger.
“And the Lord, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.” Deuteronomy 31:8
Beleive in God’s Promises
Every promise God makes, He will fulfill, but we must have faith to believe He can fulfill those promises concerning our lives. Take for instance this promise God made to Abraham:
“And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” Genesis 12:2-3
When God made this promise to Abraham, He looked through all the coming generations of Abraham to his “seed” or promised offspring, Jesus Christ. By faith, Abraham believed in God’s promise. If you are walking with God, and His Spirit dwells inside of you, you are a part of the promise God made to Abraham because you are in Christ and are Abraham’s “seed” as well. You are his spiritual offspring.
“And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Galatians 3:29
The promise God made with Abraham, and it’s just one of many of God’s promises we find in the Bible, lets us know that the detours we face in life are for a purpose; to fulfill a promise:
“Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” Matthew 28:20
“No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.” Isaiah 54:17
Learn from your detours
We can’t let our frustrations prevent us from faithfully following the detours God allows us to face in life. We can’t ignore the detours, ending up right where we started, or even worse, spiritually destroyed. We can’t fall prey to the traps the devil has deceitfully placed in our pathway that we could have avoided. God’s detours of deliverance deter us from the devil’s defeat.
If God’s plan leads you to take an alternative road than the road you choose to take in life, no matter how long it takes or what you have to go through to get to your destination, have faith that His road is the best road for you to take. God knows what He is doing. Don’t question why the detour is in front of you. The road is blocked for a reason, for your protection. However long the detour takes depends upon your obedience to the detour signs along the way, and your faith in God’s instruction.
Learn from your detours that God is a God of redirection. He has plans for your lives that you cannot see at the time you run into the detour, and that plan is to direct you away from wherever you are going. When you are traveling on a road that will potentially lead you to spiritual death, God has a protection system in place that will stop you dead in your tracks; it’s called a detour. He will set up as many detour signs it may take to direct you to something greater than what you expected to receive had you remained on your original path.