Impatient

“Are we there yet?” While traveling I remember our children asking this as I’m sure I did when I was young. Generations of children have asked this question, usually not very far into a long journey. Over and over and over; the kids just could not wait for the trip to end. How many times did Moses hear this same question from the Israelites as he led them across the wilderness for 40 years? “The Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart,” Deuteronomy 8:2. Like the journey in the pandemic year of 2020, it seems as if we have been on 40 miles of bad road. We felt lost and confused. Huge potholes of natural disasters, health concerns, and political turmoil have scared our journey, not to mention detours of personal issues and concerns. We want to ask God, “Are we there yet? How much longer?” At such times, it helps to remember that the journey, not just the destination, is important to God. He uses it to humble us, test us, and show us what is in our hearts.

Navigating the Unknown

Recently, in three separate adventures, we were traveling in unfamiliar areas, so we entered a known destination in our navigation device. To our surprise it directed us down non paved roads. We crossed one lane bridges, cattle guards, and “potholes.” I had faith we would reach our destination. As challenging as the journey appeared, we did arrive at the proper place. If I put so much trust in the electronic device on my dash to guide me to where I need to go… why do I have so much trouble trusting that God will guide me through all the calamity in the world I navigate in today? I glance in the rear-view mirror and see where I have been. I lean over and look in the mirror again, I see myself. Is that where I place my trust? Just like the Israelites, they looked in the rear-view mirror, wandering without asking for God’s guidance. As long as I go down this road and ask, “are we there yet”, I will get the same answer from God that the Israelites and our children got… “no not yet”.  Not only is it paramount to enter the correct destination, but to place my trust in the Lord. If I don’t, I will spend 40 years driving down a low maintenance road. A road that might get worse instead of better.

Trust

In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus says that there is a path that leads to life, and a path that leads to destruction. For the path to life, we need to place our trust in God and not ourselves, “Trust the Lord with all your heart; do not lean on your own understanding,” (Proverbs 3:5). When we place our trust in God, our destination will be marked for us when we come to that fork in the road. We will hear Jesus say… “your destination is on the right.” Dear Lord, help us follow the path you have lit up for us. Our trust we place in Your hands and know that our final stop will be with You in eternity. Amen.