The Lord gave me this word for a prayer and devotional call
that I do with some of my sisters in Christ. It blessed me so much that I
believe God wants me to share it with you! So here goes!
I woke up late this
morning and couldn’t go to the track like I usually do and so I had to walk my
neighborhood, which has way more hills and challenges! Definitely wasn’t my
plan but I ended up finishing the same distance that I usually do, but in a
quicker time. I got back home and found my youngest daughter throwing up, which
essentially threw off my whole morning. She was supposed to go on a field trip
so that added an extra layer of drama to the situation. I had to make other
arrangements for her and still get my other daughter out of the house on time.
My husband had to take on some of the tasks that I normally do but I managed to
get Kennedi to my parents’ house and make it to work in time to stay on
schedule. I had been praying and fasting since I was asked to do the devotion and
couldn’t hear a thing. Silence, y’all! So when I started going through all of this, I
was quick to say that the devil was trying to stop this word from going forth.
Don’t we like to bring the devil into everything?! But then I heard the Lord
quietly say to me. “I’m rerouting you.” I literally stopped in the doorway to
my bathroom, as I was trying to rush a take a late shower, and He said it
again, “I’m rerouting you.” So I got in the shower and He said, “Just like I
rerouted the Israelites on their way out of Egypt, I’m doing the same thing
with you and My people.”
Do you remember the story? If not, check out Exodus 14. Moses
has just led the people out of Egypt, through the wilderness towards the Red
Sea. They have been following the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire
by night. God made the decision to lead the people through the wilderness
rather than through Philistine territory because He knew that if they faced war
at that time, they would turn back to Egypt. Could it be that your wilderness,
your struggle, your illness, your hard place, your challenge is a way around
something even more difficult? Could it be that God rerouted you or is
rerouting you so that you won’t face a tougher war on your way to your promised
land?
You see this morning when all of those obstacles got in my
way, I was frustrated. I wanted to get back in my bed and start over. But God
had a plan. How do I know that He didn’t let me oversleep so that I wouldn’t
get in an accident on the way to the track? How do I know that Kennedi not
feeling well, which ended up causing her teacher to cancel the fieldtrip, didn’t
keep them from something dangerous on the way to Raleigh. God re-routed me and
He’s rerouting you.
God then took me to Matthew 2: 1-12 and the story of the
Wise Men. When they saw the star, they immediately knew that this was the
prophesy come to pass and the Messiah had been born. Herod got wind of this and
was troubled and went about doing an investigation about what was going on.
When he found out all of the details from the priests and scribes, he sought
out the wise men to find out exactly what they knew. He asked them to go find
out when and where Jesus and report back to him so that he, as later verses
tell us, could kill Jesus. He sent the Wise Men to Bethlehem and told them to
bring the information back to him. The Wise Men went and completed their
assignment of celebrating and worshipping the Messiah. Verse 12 of chapter 2
says, “When it was time to leave, they
returned to their own country by another route, for God had warned them in a
dream not to return to Herod.” God
knew what the enemy was planning. He knew that that brother Herod had plans for
evil. In the midst of warning the Wise Men, God also told Joseph to leave
Bethlehem and go to Egypt to hide from Herod. God made sure that His gift was
protected. He made sure that the enemy couldn’t touch what He had sent forth.
So I have a question for you! Why do you worry about whether what God has
placed in you will survive? Why do you concern yourself with the enemy’s plots
when you know you have a God that sees ahead and then provides? God rerouted
His people so that His plan would go forth.
So…I’m sitting here and I’m imagining the GPS lady saying “Rerouting,
Rerouting!” You know the voice that you hear when you get off course and the map puts a new plan in
place? That’s what God wants to do! He wants to turn your attention away from
the challenge and concentrate on His leading. Don’t be like the Israelites and
complain because of the rerouting. Do you remember what they said? “Weren’t
the cemeteries large enough in Egypt so that you had to take us out here in the
wilderness to die? What have you done to us, taking us out of Egypt? Back in
Egypt didn’t we tell you this would happen? Didn’t we tell you, ‘Leave us alone
here in Egypt—we’re better off as slaves in Egypt than as corpses in the wilderness.’?”
(Ex. 14:11, MSG)
What you’ve always done is not going to get you where you
need to be. But God’s leading will. The people you’ve always depended on are
not going to always be in place. But Jehovah Shammah will. God is doing a new
thing! He is moving people into position that will help you. He’s putting provision
in place that will bless you. He’s putting new medications and surgical
procedures in someone’s mind to help heal you. He’s rerouting you towards your
victory. Your charge is to accept the rerouting! Recognize that God’s plan is
better and sometimes He has to strategically shift you so that you don’t get
hurt. He has to move some things, some events, and some people out of the way
so that you can accomplish the purpose and the plan that He has set forth for
you. Trust Him! What He has set out for you is way better than anything you
could come up with on your own. There are benefits to following His leading! He’s rerouting you, saint! Instead of
resisting, go with it!
AMEN…
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