Dealing with Detours
July 30, 2023
17“When Pharaoh finally let the people go, God did not lead them along the main road that runs through Philistine territory, even though that was the shortest route to the Promised Land. God said, “If the people are faced with a battle, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” 18So God led them in a roundabout way through the wilderness toward the Red Sea. Thus the Israelites left Egypt like an army ready for battle.”
Exodus 13:17-18 (NLT)
Detours: Detours are typically rearrangements that take you off of your pre-planned route to arrive at the destination that you were seeking to reach.
I. Detours have a
1. Some detours are
2. Some detours are
A. Your detour may be because of
B. Your detour may be because of
21There are many plans in a man’s heart, nevertheless it’s the LORD’s counsel that will stand.
Proverbs 19:21 (NKJV)
II. Detours have a
1.They
8“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. 9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9 (NLT)
2. They
2Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
James 1:2-4 (NLT)
A. God wants us to arrive
3. They
2And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.
*Deuteronomy 8:2 (NKJV)
III. Detours have a
1. God is active when you are in
7Then the LORD told him, “I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. 8So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey—the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live.
Exodus 3:7-8 (NLT)
2. God is active when you are in
A. The promise land was always
14The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
*Exodus 14:14 (NIV)
“God not only orders our steps, He orders our stops.”
George Muller
9We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.
*Proverbs 16:9 (NKJV)