GOD’S DETOURS – 6 Reasons for God’s Course Corrections Sample

5. God wants to test and prove our willingness to follow his leadership by developing our trust and faith in his goodness. He knows that there is coming a time along our journey when it will be very important for us to respond and obey quickly so he wants us to be ready. Much of my early military training was designed to teach me to follow commands quickly and completely. Military leaders know that in combat that ability will save lives.

Faith in Christ puts us under new leadership . . . His. We are used to following our own desires and doing what we want when we want it. It can come as a shock when we discover that salvation has brought us under the lordship and leadership of the Savior of the cross.

God used a cloud to lead Israel in their initial journey on the desert. When it moved, they moved. When it stopped, they stopped. If the cloud rested for a day or a week or a month, they stayed put. There is no hint in Scripture that God gave them an explanation of why it stopped or started. They needed to learn to simply trust and follow.

Under the new covenant we are given the Holy Spirit as our “cloud.” Paul says in Romans 8:14, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God.” Learning to recognize and respond to the voice of God is part of our spiritual development. Detours are one of the ways God teaches us to follow.