Why Does God Send Us on Detours?

Continued from here.

I learned a lot through Tony Evans’ sermon series on detours that I am pondering as my detour finally appears to be coming to an end. The obvious question is why God sends us on detours in the first place. If God wants me doing X, then why not make X happen immediately?

I find it interesting that we, in our microwave society, expect that God must do everything now. If He places a vision on our hearts but our lives unfold in a different direction, we assume we misunderstood God, worry that He is punishing us, or try using our own efforts to get to X right away.

However, that’s not the biblical pattern. Abraham waited many years for his promised son. David waited many years for his promised throne. Moses waited many years before leading his people out of slavery. The Bible is filled with the pattern of receiving the vision followed by waiting that seem to bring us farther away from the destiny before it comes to fruition.

Why does God use this pattern? Per Evans, the waiting period is a “detour” in which you are “under construction.” In other words, God has “construction” to do in your character before you will be ready to fulfill the purpose that God has planned for you.

Just as Gideon was no warrior when God’s angel addressed him as “mighty warrior,” I did not have the character traits God needed to fulfill His purpose when he gave me the vision of where He is leading me. Since He placed a vision on my heart, I have been over the river, through the woods, and every other direction you can think of other than in the direction of that vision … or so it appears from the outside. From the inside, however, God has been refining me—chiseling away parts of my character that don’t align with what He has called me to do while building other parts that I will need to serve Him well.

Continued here.

Link to Evans’ Sermon Notes.

[Graphic: Cartoon of Grace shrugging her shoulders and asking, “Why?” Courtesy Bitmoji.]