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Hoped-for destinations have valuable pathways

Psalm 27:11 (NIV) Teach me your way, Lord; lead me in a straight path … [emphasis added]

Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV) ‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’ [emphasis added]

We all have destinations we are hoping to reach – a future we feel called to, or a dream God has placed in our hearts. 

But when God speaks to us, we often forget that there is a pathway that we must travel in order to reach that destination. That path may present unexpected challenges along the way. We can fall into the trap of wanting – or even expecting – the destination to magically materialize, as though we could step in and out of a time-travel machine. But that’s not how life works.

The reality is, no path is without its bumps or turns. When we hit obstacles along the way, or when challenging things transpire in a season of progress, it is easy to freak out and feel your hope weakening. ‘I don’t know where I am, I don’t know what’s happening!’ we cry. 

But when we ask God to teach us ‘His way’, the bumps in the road can become smoothed out. Once we realize that God’s ways are higher than our ways and that His thoughts are higher than our thoughts, we strengthen hope. Hope recognizes that our perspective is limited, but His is unlimited and all-encompassing.

In 1981, God asked me to go to Sydney. I had just finished bible college and wanted to support a pastor who had recently started a church. I had no doubt God had asked me to go. I was pumped. I had never heard God so clearly before. I knew that He was leading me. 

But, after arriving, I experienced the worst six months of my entire life. I couldn’t find a job, and boy did I need one! It literally felt like God went on holiday. When I prayed, it felt like God wasn’t answering me. I remember crying out, ‘God, I thought You would answer me, because I’m doing what You asked me to do. Where are You?’ 

Yet, looking back, I believe those six months were a pathway that equipped me for my future like nothing else could. Without that season where I learnt to trust God no matter what my today looked like, I never could have pastored our church the way we have. 

So often our hope jumps straight ahead to the destination, and overlooks the value of the pathway. We need to stop being so fixated on where we’re going – God is more interested in the path by which we get there, because that is where we change and grow. 

Are you facing some unexpected obstacles on your path? Valleys, steep inclines, and possibly a landslide or two? Hang on to hope in the midst of your journey. Instead of asking ‘why’, try shifting your focus to ‘what for?’ Ask Him, ‘God, what lesson are you teaching me my pathway today?’