The detour is the path

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. – PHILIPPIANS 4:12

If you don’t learn and accept the fact that the detour is the path upon which God is yet leading you, you will constantly struggle with doubt and wonder whether or not God is really in control. A detour means you have to accept something that is not of your choosing. Yet for whatever reason, the detour is the path where the Holy Spirit is taking you.

Paul’s first detour lasted about three years. After his conversion, he was ready to start preaching and evangelizing, telling the world that this Jesus whom he had opposed was, indeed, the Son of God. But nobody trusted him. A plot on his life was narrowly averted when a friend put him in a large basket and lowered him over the city wall at Damascus. He was starting to learn the detour is the path.

Three years later he met with James and the brothers in Jeru- salem for two weeks, but nothing seemed to come together so he returned to his native Tarsus in the Zagros Mountains, and made tents for the next 10 years. What a letdown!

Finally, Barnabas sought out Saul and said, “Brother Saul, God has need of you.” He could have responded, “I’ve been ready to go for 13 years,” but he didn’t. The path was now becoming more apparent.

Paul learned that the path contained many detours – impris- onments, rejection, persecution, a thorn in the flesh, shipwreck and affliction. Lesser men would have quit.

Frankly, I am absolutely amazed at this man we call Paul. He knew that God was fully in control and that the detours were the unexpected turns and stops that God had designed in His life. That is why he could proclaim that God’s grace is sufficient, that His strength is perfected in our weakness.

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Used with permission from Guidelines International Ministries. To learn more about Guidelines and the ministry, send an e-mail to [email protected]. You may also visit www.guidelines.org.