It’s Not Near

I’ve always been puzzled by the warning printed on car side mirrors: “Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear.” This tells me that a car is close, but not how close. When I was in school, Dad wouldn’t take my word for it if I told him I had close to an “A” in math; for him, a “C” wasn’t close enough to an “A.”

When we read about the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt, we find:

When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, “Lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.”

Exodus 13:17 – biblehub.com

The usual caravan road to Gaza was the shortest and most direct route from Egypt. The problem was that the Philistines had a longstanding hereditary feud with the descendants of Jacob. If God had taken the Israelites on this road, an altercation would likely have occurred. God’s people, former slaves in Egypt, weren’t ready for a fight. God intended to season them for a while to prepare them to fight when their time came.

As believers, our path of righteousness is straight¹, but often, God’s point “A” to point “B” is anything but a straight line. I get a kick from hearing people’s stories of how they “found” Jesus. Don’t misunderstand me; I’m one of them. That’s why I find joy in their testimonies.

However, I will be astonished and overjoyed if I ever hear someone say, “As a child, the Holy Spirit made me aware of my wretched condition. I confessed my sins with great, honest remorse. I repented of my ways and pleaded for God’s salvation, confessing to people that Jesus is Lord above all and believing in my heart that God raised Jesus from the grave. Since then, as a child of God, I have not wavered. I have progressively grown in sanctification, diligently studying the Bible and applying my knowledge to show my faith, not only by what I say but by my deeds.”

A testimony like the one above is God’s heartfelt desire. But few people can make such a marvelous declaration. I cannot. What I can say is that God has taken me through difficult and even life-threatening experiences to strengthen and toughen me up. He has done this for me to be able to pray for others with confidence because He has made me confident through testing and difficulties. Because of what Jesus has done in my life, I can pray that God will even change times and circumstances so that He defeats the enemy and delivers His own.

I’m not special; God has probably done the same with you. He’s ready to toughen us up, to take us on a road that isn’t a straight line from point “A” to point “B.” Jesus is ready to take us off-roading! To power through the muck and overcome rugged hills. He’s ready to prepare us for greater effectiveness in Him than we’ve ever had.

Will you travel the road Jesus has prepared for you, although it’s not near?

Footnotes

1. Bible Gateway passage: Proverbs 3:5-6 – English Standard Version. (n.d.). Bible Gateway. Retrieved October 28, 2024, from https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs%203%3A5-6&version=ESV ↩︎