[Steve Myers] Life's detours. Sometimes we've got life all planned out. And when we've got that path, and we're gonna go that way, and then sometimes we come to a roadblock, no traffic allowed. We come to those spots in our life that we didn't expect to be here. I mean, think of this big roadblock we've seen lately with the coronavirus. Who would have expected it to be like this just a year ago? We didn't see it coming.

Life is sometimes like that. And sometimes God allows these things and actually has a hand in life's detours. One of the things we noticed about detours, when God was working with Israel, one of the reasons He took them a roundabout way, an unexpected way when they left Egypt, was to protect them. Now, that's not the only reason God allows detours in our lives. Another reason for detours is oftentimes God can use them to prepare us. He prepares us through these different challenges that we weren't expecting.

There's a good example of this over in 2 Samuel 22:32. King David writes about this because as God was moving His people to the promised land, one of the reasons for the detour was He wanted to get them where He wanted them. But there was also another aspect that David writes about. He says this, verse 32, "For who is God besides the Lord and who is the rock except our God?" God's in charge. No doubt about that. He's never surprised by what's going on. He knows exactly what's happening.And then he goes on, "It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer. He enables me to stand on the heights. He trains my hands for battle. My arms can bend a bowl of bronze. You give me Your shield of victory. You stoop down to make me great. You broadened the path beneath me so my ankles do not turn."

And so what we find, even in the challenges that Israel was facing as they went into the promised land, they didn't go the way that they expected to go. But God had a hand in the detour. While it looked like there is no way to go forward, God was using that situation to prepare the people.

And so like David said, "You broadened the path when I didn't expect it. It looked like a dead-end, and yet, You just detoured us on a little bit different way." And so, God certainly can use those detours in our life to do that very same thing.

So if you find yourself in a detour, pray to God, ask Him, "God, what is it that you're preparing me for? How can I serve You even better?" And when we see God's hand in that kind of situation, we can then certainly appreciate the detours of life.

That's BTdaily. We'll see you next time.