Exodus 2: 15b Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well.
Read Exodus 2:11-25
Have you ever felt like you are on a detour and your life actually should be going a different way?
One day, after Moses grew up he went to see the Hebrew workers. He saw his people being oppressed and impulsively decided to take justice into his own hands. He attacked and struck down the Egyptian who was beating one of his fellow Hebrews.
Moses’ impulsive act was both a metaphorical and literal “royal mess.” For the next 40 years Moses will live in exile in the desert of Midian. Moses probably felt like these 40 years were one large detour in his otherwise amazing story. Every detour in our life as we look back on it was part of a beautiful tapestry being woven by the Master Weaver. Even the snags and threads show that our life is a carefully woven and handcrafted piece of work.
Years later Moses would realise that his 40 years in the desert were part of his story and a growing of his skill set. He would learn about the One True God from his father-in-law and priest of Midian, Jethro. He would learn to live in the desert and be able teach and guide the people of Israel and teach them how to live a thriving and nomadic life in what would otherwise have been an inhospitable climate. If it had not been for the so called detour, Moses would never have met his wife Zipporah, and even more importantly the Living God at the burning bush.
Remember that you are not on a detour. God has a plan for your life and wants to meet with you. He will even help you discover that the detour was actually the intended route all along. Don’t flee from your detour, it is in the wilderness that God encounters his people time after time in the Old Testament. It was in the desert that God then propelled his own Son into the spotlight and spoke the most amazing words any human being will ever hear, “This is my Son in whom I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:11)
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