Life on the High Road

Week Two – The Detour

Introduction

A “detour” is by definition

• A deviation from a direct course or the usual procedure.
• A roundabout way
• A sharp departure

Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death”

“yashar” This is the Hebrew word for right.

It means straight, convenient, tranquil, peaceful, and appropriate. There is a road that appears to us to be the straight road or the appropriate road. Again this concept of our plan for life may seem totally the right way for us, but in the end it leads to death. God’s plan may take a few detours and unexpected paths, but Jesus promises it leads to life. A detour on the high road is when God has you on one road, and then suddenly it all takes a turn. It may be a quick detour, or a detour that lasts for years. It’s a deviation from where you were headed. All the same, a detour is still God’s high road for you if you will trust him with it.

Will you trust Jesus on your road?

A Roundabout Way

Exodus 13:17-22 “When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter…so God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea…”

This is interesting because scripture tells us there was a shorter, more convenient way. We know now from the story that God knew something that they didn’t know. Whatever you are waiting on, God has gone ahead of you, just as He did for the Israelites. He knows the plans He has for you even if it is the roundabout way.

Trusting Him With Your Detour

It’s important to begin to identify your own detours and recognize God’s hand in them. Pretty much every one of God’s people from the Bible were taken on some sort of a detour…Noah, Moses, David…the list goes on. We are going to look at Joseph and his many detours and how God was right in the midst of each one.

Genesis 37-50

Trust His Way With Your Location

(i.e., where you are physically) Gen 37:13 we see Joseph’s father has sent him to check on his brothers in Schechem. Once he arrives, he finds t hat they had moved on to Dothan (which happens to be the road that leads straight to Egypt). Once there his brothers conspire to throw him into a pit, and then sell him to slave traders on their way to Egypt. We are told in Gen 39:2 that “The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered…” This is repeated at every detour of Joseph’s journey. None of these incidents were by accident. God had a plan for Joseph and each detour was part of that plan. God had Joseph just where he needed him, and He has you just where He wants you. Whether it’s a difficult marriage, a young mother in a new town, an employee with a difficult boss – we can trust God with our location. A resilient woman is one who celebrates transition and the detours of life. Detours can be great too and when that happens we still need to recognize Jesus in that goodness and rest in it.

Trust His Way With Your Reputation

Or Trust His way with what other people think about you

We continue to see this pattern with Joseph – God sets him on a detour, God is with him, and he prospers. Once again, Joseph has been sold to Potiphar, the Egyptian pharaoh. Gen 39:3 “When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph.”

Psalm 31: 12-15

God has your detour in His hands.

Job 42:2 reminds us that “no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”

No matter what people think of you, God will accomplish his work in you. Our road is in His hands and He will take the detour that you are on though hard and constricting, and take you to life!

Trust His Way With Your Situation

Three different situations we see in Joseph’s journey:

· Mistreatment by family

· Restriction by circumstances

· Abandonment

Joseph wasn’t defined by his family’s mistreatment or the other events, he was refined by it. Gen 45: 8 Joseph tells his brothers “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God”. And then later in Genesis 50:20 “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”

Trust God with your location, your reputation, your situation. Trust that where He has you is right where he wants you and He will accomplish his purposes.

The Straightest Way

Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

Again, that word ways is the word “derekh” our word for road. In all your “roads” submit to him, and he will make your roads straight.