Devotional Thought – The Long Path

09 Mar Devotional Thought – The Long Path

“And the LORD said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.” Exodus 14:15

So, evidently there is a time when it is better as a Christian to get up and get busy serving the Lord than it is to sit down and pray. God said to Moses, “Why are you taking the time to cry out to me when there are human hands that are ready to accomplish the task that I’ve set before you. Don’t stand there talking to me, talk to the Children of Israel and tell them to go forward.”

As I read about the life of Moses, I find that he was often hesitant, reticent even, about moving forward and doing something. In fact, his meekness may have been a result of a rather lackadaisical personality. Why get up and do something when if you’d just sit down wait on the Lord He’ll step in and do it? He seems to have just naturally expected God to accomplish His purposes through some drastic, dramatic, divine sign – an earthquake, a bolt of lightning out of Heaven, a legion of angels or a burning bush. He may have even thought it unspiritual to try to accomplish the work of God with anything other than spiritual means. After all, shouldn’t God get all of the glory?

Yes, God should receive all of the glory, but if it were the will of God that every sick child is made well then there would be no need of a doctor. If it were God’s plan that they never get sick, then they wouldn’t need to be vaccinated. God can, and often does, get the glory through His creation using the gifts and abilities that He has given to them.

As you study the scripture will find that there was a short, straight path from Egypt to the Promised Land. So, why then did God take the Children of Israel by the longer way around? Because it was the longer way. You see, the longer way around would no doubt take a lot of extra time and see a great deal of extra trouble and as a result would require more love and faith. Those are the same answers the Lord gives today when someone asks why the road has to be so long, with so many turns and potholes. He seems to says to us, “The destination isn’t the end of the journey. The journey is the beginning of the destination. You’ll learn more about me by watching me work and walking the long path with me.”

I’m so thankful that in my walk with Jesus He has seen fit to take me by the long path. If I were to reach my destination in an hour – which would certainly be possible given His unlimited power and universal presence -, I would not be equipped, trained, or prepared for what I would receive.

I’m thankful that as I walk with the Lord on this journey, He has veiled His face from me. If His power were to have been completely active and on permanent display, then I might not have felt the need to do anything for Him. I might not have gone to the hospital, stopped by the home of the bereaved, or paused to counsel with the troubled and I would be that much the poorer. I would have no room for concern, no place for pity, no need for love. I wouldn’t have received Martha’s blessing – or even Mary’s – because I wouldn’t be working or waiting. That’s why I’m grateful that on my journey with Jesus He has allowed me to have time both to work and to wait – to expend human power and experience human patience. He has allowed there to be silence in heaven so that my weak voice may be heard on earth.

There is a veil over the glory of our great God – and that is a good thing. If it were not there, then His light would overpower my finite faith and His will my human effort. His power would coerce my love, and coerced love isn’t actually love at all. That’s why I praise Him that He has taken His children Israel into His Promised Land by the long path.