“…God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though it was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.”
Daniel told us a story from when he was a kid. They would go on a long car drive to their grandmother’s house for the day. After a long day of fun and fellowship, they packed up the car and headed back. Daniel told us he would always lean back and go to sleep on the car ride home. When his dad said that they were going home, Daniel trusted his dad, and that was it. Off to sleep he went, not worrying about any stops or bumps in the road or wondering if they were really going home or somewhere else. No, he was confident they would end up back home safe and sound.
Two things here we must understand about God.
1. He is aware of the journey ahead, and He is keeping us from war.
You might feel like, “Why are we going down this path?” or “This is surely the long way through this.” Just know that He is leading you away from war, away from something you might not be ready to handle.
2. The purpose of the trip is to keep you focused on Him so you don’t go back to your old life.
God knows you might not be up to the challenge when things get tough, or the shorter way around issues might just lead you into compromising positions where you compromise your faith.
This was surely the long and hard way to the land flowing with milk and honey, but you have to believe this proving ground was to get a slave population to believe they are a chosen people and to begin acting like it. You may have just seen God’s hand on your life, and He surely delivered you from something that was visibly bad. Remember that the journey now is to get you to think of yourself as chosen and purchased at a price by the blood of the cross. Knowing this is wonderful, but walking in it and believing it is what we learn to do while in the desert, trusting Him.
Today, thank God for the way He is leading you, and pray that your heart will line up with what God wants. Trust Him as your navigator. The journey you are on might be a hard one. You may be paying too much attention to every bump in the road or the loud things around you. Jesus took a pillow with Him in the boat and was asleep when the disciples woke Him up in the middle of the storm. Jesus knew they were going across the lake, and He was secure in it. You might want to pay more attention to what Jesus is saying and pay less attention to the storm.
Prayer: Father, help me to pay more attention to Your Word and the promises of Your Word than to the storms of my life. I give You all my storms and worries, Lord. Here, You can have them because I am secure in You. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Let It Go 
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