{"id":183993,"date":"2022-03-11T10:00:58","date_gmt":"2022-03-11T15:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/\/us\/?p=183993"},"modified":"2022-03-08T10:20:43","modified_gmt":"2022-03-08T15:20:43","slug":"the-curious-ways-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/banneroftruth.org\/us\/resources\/articles\/2022\/the-curious-ways-of-god\/","title":{"rendered":"The Curious Ways of God"},"content":{"rendered":"

The other week I came across one of those sayings that sticks in your mind and makes you think: \u2018An expert hits a target no-one else can hit; a genius hits a target no-one else can see.\u2019 It struck me that there is a third level we could add: \u2018the Lord hits a target no-one else can even imagine.\u2019<\/p>\n

How often in Scripture and in history does the Lord act in a surprising, unexpected way? His ways are not our ways, and that is not because God is being unpredictable in a random or arbitrary way, but because he is so infinitely greater and wiser than us, so that we simply can\u2019t imagine what is involved in working all things for good. Wisdom means knowing what is best and knowing the best way to bring about what is best. And God does that in everything that he ordains! Just think about that. He doesn\u2019t just do the wisest thing nine times out of ten or ninety-nine times out of a hundred. He always does it every single time.<\/p>\n

We have an illustration of this in Exodus 13:18-19, when the Lord brought his people out of Egypt. They come to a crossroads at the border of Egypt and the obvious way to Canaan is north, along the well-travelled Via Maris (\u2018the way of the sea\u2019). It was the shortest and most direct route. The Israelites would be there in less than two weeks if they had taken this road.<\/p>\n

But it must have seemed like God was holding his map upside-down, because instead of telling them to go north he sends them south and east towards the desert. Things will get even stranger at the beginning of chapter 14, when God tells Israel to make a U-turn and go back towards Egypt. It makes no sense at all\u2014it looks like they are hopelessly lost in the desert, going round in circles with no clue where to go!<\/p>\n

But of course the Lord knows exactly what he\u2019s doing. The reason for taking the scenic route to Canaan is explained in Ex 13:17\u2014the sea road would lead Israel into a head-on confrontation with the Philistines on the coast.<\/p>\n

Isn\u2019t that so touching? The Lord knew Israel was fragile. The people weren\u2019t ready for war just yet. They will face war soon\u2014in about two months\u2019 time against the Amalekites (chapter 17), but they can\u2019t handle it right now. They have just come through a major trauma. Perhaps today many of them would be diagnosed with PTSD. They have lived as oppressed slaves for decades\u2014as long as any of them can remember they have endured the lash of the Egyptian taskmasters. What must it have been like for them to witness the increasingly apocalyptic devastation of the plagues? And now, suddenly, in the course of a single night, they have been set free and had to get up and leave the only home they\u2019ve ever known. They have walked out of Egypt and everyone they pass is involved in burying their firstborn (Num. 33:4). They were overjoyed to be free\u2014but freedom can be an unsettling, even frightening, prospect for people used to slavery.<\/p>\n

We know from later in the story that Israel was all too ready to think of giving up and going back to Egypt. When they eventually reach the border of the Promised Land they are ready even then to elect a new leader and go back to Egypt! (Num. 14:4). It didn\u2019t take much to knock these damaged and fearful people. So God is gracious and compassionate towards them and takes them the long way round.<\/p>\n

Not that the way of the wilderness was the easy way! God was leading them into plenty of challenges and trials in the wilderness! To start with, they\u2019re going to be trapped between the Egyptian army and the Red Sea; then there will be the desert of Shur with its bitter, undrinkable water (15:22), followed by the desert of Sin where there is no food (16:1-3); after that Rephidim turned out to be waterless (17:1-3). Serious challenges for two million people in a hot desert!<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the point: God always knows the best way. It may not be the shortest way, the most obvious way or the way everyone else would take. It may seem like completely the wrong way. But the Lord\u2019s way is always the right way\u2014the best way\u2014for his people. He works all things together for their good (Rom 8:28). He carefully, lovingly calibrates our trials to match our circumstances, needs and limits. He spares the Israelites war in these first weeks after the exodus, but he doesn\u2019t spare them all<\/em> trials. He takes them into the wilderness to expose them to different<\/em> trials. He is like a wise teacher or coach who knows just how much to push the student or athlete to get the best out of him or her.<\/p>\n

We need to learn and re-learn this lesson over and over, don\u2019t we? Why is the Lord leading in the very opposite direction to the one I think I need to be going? Why is he taking me into the wilderness, along this hard road, instead of the one that looks best? Why is this happening to me? Have I taken a wrong turn and lost my way? Why is this happening now? Why is it going on for so long? Why is it so savage? Why is it happening to my child?<\/p>\n

This portion of Scripture reassures us. Our heavenly Father always knows what\u2019s best and knows the best way to bring about what\u2019s best. Even when it seems like he\u2019s completely lost his way, when our lives seem like nothing but chaos, the Lord knows what he\u2019s doing.<\/p>\n

When we are diagnosed with a debilitating or even terminal illness, when we are bereaved of a loved one, when we lose our job or fail an exam\u2014the way of the wilderness may be hard, but it\u2019s always the best way. We don\u2019t know all things\u2014we don\u2019t know what disaster would have befallen us had we gone the way we thought best. We don\u2019t know what the Lord is sparing us from. This is the essence of faith\u2014\u2018the conviction of things not seen\u2019 (Heb. 11:1): that our Father is infinitely wise and he will guide us in the way that is best.<\/p>\n

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This article was first published on the Gentle Reformation<\/a> and has been reproduced by permission.<\/p>\n

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Of Further Interest<\/h3>\n