The Scenic Route

One thing I have learned about God is that he enjoys taking the scenic route. I like the scenic route most of the time, but it is longer and has more bumps, stops and places for me to get bogged down along the way. During some of those frustrations and delays I experience along the way it is natural to wonder why God doesn’t just give me what I need right when I need it. It would be a whole lot easier and a whole lot less time consuming.

I find a lot of Godly wisdom in the story of Moses and the Ten Commandments pertaining to his scenic route. The first set of commandments (yes, there were two) God gave Moses were inscribed by God’s own finger. After forty days and forty nights on Mt. Sinai, Moses descended with the Ten Commandments in hand and what the first thing he saw? Aaron and the rest of the Israelites bowing to a golden calf!

Keep in mind, God had just given Moses the top ten list for his people beginning with “thou shalt have no other gods before me”. Number one on the list didn’t come to mind when Moses saw what had been happening at the foot of the mountain while he was busy spending time in the presence of God on their behalf. He was appalled and disgusted by their behavior and quickly flew into a rage; smashing the tablets where God’s finger inscribed His commandments.

God led Moses back up to the top of the mountain for forty days and forty nights, only this time, he took him along the scenic route. His experience was much different; instead of being handed the Ten Commandments, Moses was required to inscribe the exact words, but he had to chisel them himself. This was a long and painstaking process, but it was necessary for him to invest more in God’s Word so that when it came time to deliver it to the world, he would be ready. How patient of God to give Moses a second chance and use it to prepare him better for the world that lay ahead.

I can see myself in Moses. How many times has God given me his word for a lost and dying world and then I react so strongly to a behavior that I lose sight of the word he gave me to deliver? My mission gets overshadowed by my own selfish feelings of anger, hurt or disappointment so much so that I miss an opportunity to share Christ. Then God so lovingly takes me back and teaches me again, only through his wisdom he requires more of me. Those are the bumps, the delays and the bogs that are positioning us to share God with the world.

2 Corinthians 3:3. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. God is writing upon your life day by day. When you feel like it is taking too long or has become too difficult, remember Moses. When it was handed to him, it was squandered, but when it required carving out letter by letter, it was written not only on stone, but upon his heart which better equipped him to lead God’s people.