I love a good vacation. A nice road trip. Pack up the car. Start singing some of those traveling songs…a little John Denver. A little Willie Nelson. Take me home country road or on the road again. (You know you’re singing them in your head. You’re welcome!)
Now, I’m a planner. When I take a trip, I like to have it mapped out. I have a destination in mind. I make a plan. We plug the address into our GPS and follow those directions. (I don’t like her to yell at me, “Recalculating!”) 🙂
We pack our clothes and food for the car and the kids pack their car bags with books and iPods and chargers and everything they’ll need while we travel.
I don’t even mind stopping along the way to hit the outlets or the Bass Pro Shop or whatever we see because at the end of the day, I know where we will end up. At the destination. It’s in the GPS. I don’t have to wonder where we’re going. I can see it right on the map.
Now, you can’t plan for everything, and sometimes there are detours, but at the end of the day, our GPS will get us there!
I know I’m not the only planner out there. Who can relate?
But this whole life in God thing…this whole walking out the dream thing…it’s been the exact opposite. Anytime I even come close to thinking I might have it mapped out, there’s a detour.
And more times than I like, I find myself asking, “Where am I going? I think I’m lost.”
The dream He gives is the destination, but something’s usually missing. The route. The directions. If you tried to plug it into your GPS, it would say, “Address doesn’t exist. Good luck with that!”
I can’t wait to meet Joseph when we get to heaven and hear his story from his own lips. I’ve read it so many times my Bible starts falling apart at Genesis chapter 35. LOL.
God gave him a powerful dream about being a leader. About his brothers bowing down to him. It was pretty specific but so, so vague at the same time.
He liked his dream. So much so that he told it to everyone. His dream made him happy. It made him feel special. And I’m sure he mapped out in his mind what that route would look like.
And then….the pit. And slavery. And prison. And more prison. And I wonder how many times along the way he said, “Where am I going? I think I’m lost. This isn’t what I had in mind.Guess I’ll never get there.”
That’s where we have to guard ourselves. Guard our hearts and minds against discouragement. When our map and God’s map don’t look the same, it’s easy to get discouraged and give up and walk away from the trip.
One thing I love about Joseph is that he trusted God. He could have been bitter and angry about his brothers and about his lot in life, but instead he chose to keep his heart right before God. I doubt he ever thought he’d cry when he saw his brothers, but he did.
I’m sure Joseph didn’t understand how the pit and slavery and prison and being forgotten were God positioning him for promotion…for his dream…until after it was all over and he could look back on it.
And sometimes I look at my map and say, “Lord, I don’t see how being on this road is helping me get to my destination. Isn’t it kind of far out of the way?”
But that’s where God is saying, “You don’t have to understand. Trust me. The destination is at the end of this road. Hang in there. Keep going.”
What’s so cool about God is that He’s not limited to our roads. Our maps. Our GPS. What we can see.
He can create a connecting road even if we can’t see one right now. Just like He parted the Red Sea. Just like He demolished the walls of Jericho. Just like he raised Lazarus from the dead.
Keep trusting. And keep following the GPS. He is faithful.
And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you. (Philippians 1:6)