Exodus 13:17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.”
18 So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea.
When I think of the Israelites who fled Egypt I envision them as children. They were the complaining-est (yes, I know that's not a word) bunch ever. They were the kids in the back seat. "ARE WE THERE YET? I'M BORED. THERE'S NOTHING TO DRINK HERE. I'M HUNGRY." Personally, I would have found a babysitter and left the whole lot of them behind and spent a week at the Red Sea with my beach chair. But that's not God. He took the whiners and turned the car away from a shorter path in favor of the longer desert road. Why? He could see ahead. It wasn't safe physically and it was unsafe spiritually. "They might change their minds" and go back. They might lose the ground they'd gained with Him. He knew how fast they would forget. How fast we forget. Yesterday a miracle, today we're feeling unsure of God's presence and it's probably safer back there in the rear view mirror.
There are so many desert roads in this lifetime. SO. MANY. Hot barren days. Sand and dry wind in our eyes, we can barely see a way forward. This is not how we envisioned it, Lord, this is not what we thought following God's path would look like. Maybe it's not worth following you at all if it's going to end up like this.
We have the advantage of reading the rest of the Exodus story. We can see all the ways God took situations that looked absolutely impossible and made a way. We don't have that hindsight for our own lives, but I guarantee you if someone in the future reads your story that they, too, will marvel at the ways God brought you through.
Stand fast.
Galatians 5:1 1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
