Detours Ahead!

 

Scripture

 Deuteronomy 35:1-9

34 Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, and the Lord showed him the whole land: Gilead as far as Dan, ² all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, ³ the Negeb, and the Plain—that is, the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees—as far as Zoar. ⁴ The Lord said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants’; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there.” ⁵ Then Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, at the Lord’s command. ⁶ He was buried in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor, but no one knows his burial place to this day. ⁷ Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died; his sight was unimpaired and his vigor had not abated. ⁸ The Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the period of mourning for Moses was ended.

⁹ Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, because Moses had laid his hands on him; and the Israelites obeyed him, doing as the Lord had commanded Moses.  (NRSV)

Joshua 1:1-2
1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying, ² “My servant Moses is dead. Now proceed to cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the Israelites.  (NRSV)

Devotion

 Some days are full of unexpected detours; and today has definitely been that kind of day for me.  I went to bed last night with a list of things of things to accomplish and a plan for the order in which I would tackle them.  I even planned to get to work a bit early so that I could get a nice head start.  I had been awake for less than hour this morning when things began to go awry. 

It began when I opened my door to discover a flock of black chickens walking into my yard.  Where did they come from?  What should be done?  And so began my first of many detours: tracking down their owner and letting her know that the birds had escaped.  Needless to say, I did not get to the church as early as I had hoped.  Less than an hour later, an emergency phone call had me signing out of the church's Zoom Bible Study and rushing to someone's home.  Then, there was bevy of unexpected phone calls, folks who needed to delay previous plans, etc.  By 3:00 PM, I had not fully accomplished a single things on my to-do list.  I could see where I wanted to go,  but I just kept getting rerouted onto detours.

The people of Israel encountered a detour of sorts as they camped on the plains of Moab.  After 40 years in the wilderness, they could see finally see the Promised Land, and they were ready to go already!  But then Moses died.  Moses's unexpected death took the Israelites on an detour of sorts as the people who were raring to enter the Promised Land took 30 days to pause and mourn for the one who had brought them so far.  And while the people's grief was real, I'm sure there were moments when at least a few of them wanted to just get back with the program already.

Life can feel particularly challenging on "detour days."  We want to take the straight and obvious path...to accomplish everything on our list quickly and efficiently.  When unexpected situations and things that need to take a higher priority than what we had going on arise come up, we can find ourselves veering well off the beaten path.  And there, in the land of detours, we can come to feel lost, frustrated, and terribly "behind."  We may even wonder if we are ever going to get back on track.

The thing to remember is that while we may have veered from our own plans, we are still on the route that God has chosen for us.  And just like heading down a road that wasn't on the itinerary can introduces us to surprising new places, the detours God puts in place can result in some wonderful things.  In the case of the Israelites, pausing to mourn Moses made room for Joshua to rise up and lead the people into battle as they conquered Canaan.  While the Israelites missed Moses, it quickly became clear that Joshua was the right person God to lead them in this next phase of their walk with God.  For me, today's detours helped me show care where it was needed, grow closer with people I had wanted to get to know better, extend some invitations to people looking for ways to volunteer within our community, etc.   None of it was what had been planned, but God's priorities were more important than  my to-do list.  And I am so thankful for the blessings all the detours provided... even if my list for tomorrow is much longer than I would like.

Life is full of detours.  Some (like unexpected chickens in the yard) are surprisingly fun.  Some are full of pain and loss.  But whatever they are, God is there to act as our navigator and help us find the right route.  And I promise there are blessings along the unexpected paths we travel.

 

Prayer

 Father, your ways are good and your steadfast love lasts forever.  Help me to trust in your goodness as I head down life's unexpected detours.  Give me eyes to see your continued blessings, ears to hear your words of comfort and assurance, lips to proclaim your goodness, and a heart that beats with your love.  Amen.