Chapter Sixteen

The Path of Detours

If anyone knew what it meant to wait without so much as hope on the horizon, it was Joseph. I don’t need to rehash the events of his life here since we’ve covered them so thoroughly throughout these pages.

But by now, if you know anything at all about Joseph, you know this: Joseph spent the bulk of his life waiting on God to bring him into his destiny.

Joseph didn’t even get to have his own family until he was well past the years that men in his culture wedded and had children. He didn’t have a career with upward mobility either. After all, slavery and then a jail cell are usually pretty limited when it comes to promotion. Joseph held no degrees. He was an outsider in a culture, which was obsessed with their own culture. If anyone should have any reason to give up, throw in the towel, and just give in to a fatalistic mentality, it would be Joseph.

Joseph spent the bulk of his life waiting on God to bring him into his destiny.

But Joseph didn’t give in. He kept showing up, day in and day out. We know this because Scripture tells us that the Lord was with Joseph and also granted him favor with those around him. We also know that God continued to promote him wherever he was to have greater authority and influence.

Greater authority and influence doesn’t go to the one who tosses in the towel. Great authority and influence usually goes to the one who is using that towel, and using it well. Even if it means all you can do with it is clean up someone else’s mess. It’s only a fairy tale, but it carries truth that resonates with all of us. Cinderella sang as she cleaned because once she had met the prince, she knew there was something bigger for her. It was just a matter of timing, which is how it always is with God. It’s a matter of timing. It’s a matter of Him setting up the intersections of life so that when you get there, the people you are connecting with are ready for you. And, even more importantly, you are ready to handle what has been given to you as well.

Joseph’s waiting was a matter of timing. We read this in the book of Psalms, “He called down famine against the land and destroyed the entire food supply. He had sent a man ahead of them—Joseph, who was sold as a slave. They hurt his feet with shackles; his neck was put in an iron collar. Until the time his prediction came true, the word of the Lord tested him” (Ps. 105:16–19).

You’ll notice an important set of words in that passage, “until the time.” Joseph was afflicted. Joseph was a slave. Joseph was a prisoner. Joseph was broken, bound, and forgotten—from a human perspective. Until the time.

Until what time?

Until the time God was ready with all pieces of the puzzle to carry out His perfect plan in history.

One reason God has us waiting for various things and desires in our lives is because He is doing something bigger than you. It’s bigger than you.

I know you are the one going through it, feeling it, experiencing it—being pained by it. But what He is doing is bigger than you. It’s always bigger than you. Like the strands woven together to create a tapestry of an image no single strand has the ability to display, we are all interconnected through God in His divine plan. He is hooking things up.

You are one strand. Joseph was one strand in God’s bigger kingdom plan of preserving a family for the building of a nation. Yes, Joseph was an important strand just as you are an important strand. But oftentimes the most important strands have to wait the longest and develop the most before being shown their part to play.

As you wait on your destiny, realize that one of the reasons you are waiting is because God is up to something bigger than just you. It involves time because there is more to deal with than just you.

Testing in Time

Everyone seems to want a blessing, but few want development. A kid will eat candy all day. They will take your money all day. But give them correction, discipline—guidance that goes against what they want—and they will often balk. Yet candy, games, and money aren’t going to develop a child into becoming a productive adult. God knows the same holds true for us. In order for God to have Joseph fulfill his role as second-in-command in Egypt, He had to take him deeper first. He had to develop him first. He had to strengthen his humility, trust, confidence (as opposed to pride), and leadership skills. He also gave him lessons on dealing with accusers and haters along the way, since a position of prominence will no doubt attract the same.

It’s like the army captain who had soldiers in training and he asked them all to jump over the riverbed. The goal was to get over the river and land on the other side. All of the men and women jumped, but none of them made it. Some made it halfway. Others made it two-thirds, but not one person made it over.

That’s when the army captain let loose an alligator in the river and asked them to try again. This time, all of them made it. This is because sometimes you need some negative potential in your experience to take you further than you would go on your own. Sometimes you need to learn your lessons to pass the test. You need to experience the consequences of poor choices. You need to mature, focus, and eliminate outside distractions. You need to train your taste buds to not only know what is good but be willing to go without what is not. If Joseph had not experienced opulence and destitution as he had, he may not have handled the opulence he later obtained.

Sometimes you and I need to learn to trust God, worship Him, and wait for Him in spite of the reality that He is not providing anything for us right now in alignment with what we desire. It’s easy to worship God and surrender to Him when all is well. It’s not easy when you are in a jail, like Joseph.

And for you and me, that may be an emotional jail.

A relational jail—could be a relationship you wish you were never in but have no way out of—or a relationship you wish you had but are, at the moment, alone.

It could be a jail of finances or health or even your job. They call a job that gives you no purpose other than a paycheck wearing “velvet handcuffs” because you aren’t as free as you really think you are.

Many of you either cooked or ate turkeys or hams over the holiday season. I would be in the “ate” category. Those of you who cook them know that they usually come with a temperature gauge of some sort that will pop up when the meat is ready. Or you stick in a thermometer to see what the temperature is inside the meat. The reason why this is necessary is because the appearance of meat can be deceiving. Meat can look cooked on the outside, but when you cut it open, it’s still raw. It’s nasty. It’s got blood. It still has germs that can make you sick.

Christians are no different. Many of us can look put together and spiritual on the outside, but get to the heart of the matter, and you will discover that far too many are not nearly as spiritual as they give off. They are mean, nasty, and carry germs of bitterness, doubt, and ingratitude when you dig deep enough through difficult situations. Just because you say “hallelujah” to the message doesn’t mean you are spiritual. Just because you preach the message doesn’t mean you are spiritual either. God knows the state of each of our souls, and He won’t pull us out of the oven of adversity and waiting until we are ready for what He has in store.

Waiting can be a way of life since spiritual growth and development usually take time. But there is a way to know that you are not alone while you are waiting on God. There is a way to know that “God is with you” just as He was with Joseph, and He is taking you to your destiny. We find this way in the book of Isaiah,

Jacob, why do you say, and Israel, why do you assert: “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my claim is ignored by my God”? Do you not know? Have you not heard? Yahweh is the everlasting God, the creator of the whole earth. He never grows faint or weary; there is no limit to His understanding. He gives strength to the weary and strengthens the powerless. Youths may faint and grow weary, and young men stumble and fall, but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint. (Isa. 40:27–31)

Embedded in that verse is wisdom for how you will know God is with you on your detour. He has both a purpose and a plan for where you are right now, and—most importantly—so you will have perfected the art of “waiting well.” When these things are in alignment, it says He will renew your strength.

He renews your strength.

If you have a smartphone, you will notice that you may begin the day at 100 percent battery charged, but as you go throughout the day, it moves down to 75 percent, and then 50 percent, and even 20 percent. If you do nothing about it, you’ll eventually get a warning that you are low on your battery life. Things will shut down altogether if you don’t quickly find a charger, or borrow one, and plug your smartphone in. Now, all of a sudden, what was almost out of strength starts to find new strength.

God says that one way you will know you are waiting well is He recharges you when you are running out of juice. One of the ways He does this is explained in verse 31: you “will soar on wings like eagles.” There is an interesting reality about eagles that can apply as great insight to our spiritual lives if we will let it. When a mama eagle first builds her nest for her baby, she makes it comfortable. It’s full of all the things the baby eagle needs to want to stay there. She feeds it. She warms it. She nurtures it.

But when it comes time for this baby eagle to fly, the mama eagle will begin to pull away the comfortable pieces of the nest. Bit by bit things are removed—exposing the growing eagle to a less ideal environment. Things begin to poke, prod, and annoy the young eagle. Eventually, after all the soft things have been taken away thus creating an irritation, she pushes the eagle out of the nest altogether.

First, she makes it so the eagle wouldn’t mind leaving the nest because all of the comforts that were first known are now gone. Then she bumps the eagle right on out, forcing it to flap its wings. The problem comes because the young eagle has never flown before, and doesn’t know how to fly. And getting it right on the first try isn’t likely. So what does the mama eagle do? As her young eagle continues to flap and fall and flap and fall, she swoops down to it and catches it with her talons and often with her wings. Then she delivers the young eagle back up to the nest until it’s time to try again.

Friend, you may feel like you are falling, but God is just teaching you how to fly. You may feel like you are about to crash into the rocks at the bottom of the canyon, but God has His eyes on you, and He will swoop down out of nowhere and catch you with His grace. It’s called divine intervention, and He is a master at it. This is when God comes out of nowhere, brings something into your life that catches you when you thought you were going to quit, lose your mind, give up—and He catches you. He doesn’t change it. But He lets you know He’s there.

Another way you know God is renewing your strength is in the part of the passage that says “they will run and not grow weary.” This is when God supernaturally gives you a second wind. This is when you get to that place that you can’t go past, you can’t go on, you are huffing and puffing, and all of a sudden you get what runners call “the second wind.” It’s new strength. God doesn’t swoop down and lift you out of it this time, but He gives you the strength to keep going on while in it. Sometimes that comes through a sermon or a book. Sometimes it comes through a song. Sometimes it comes through an encouraging word from a friend or an inspirational post on social media. It can come through any number of things, but—whatever it is—God uses it to give you strength just when you need it the most. You now have the ability and energy to keep going.

Then there are those times when God doesn’t swoop down and carry you on His wings; He doesn’t give you a second wind, but He keeps you from getting weary when you walk. This is when God doesn’t change the situation; He just changes you in it. You can still go on, even if that means going fairly slow, like me at the annual Turkey Trot.

The Turkey Trot takes place in Dallas every year around Thanksgiving, and the point of the event is to exercise, by running, before the big feast. But since I had orthoscopic surgery on my knee some time ago, and since I still get arthritis in it, I cannot run. If I run, the pounding will cause my knee to swell. I used to run ten miles a day, but now I can’t even run one mile. While many people are trotting at the Turkey Trot, I walk. And, funny enough, I’m not the only one walking. There’s usually a group of us who wind up walking the trot. And when you walk with others, you sometimes forget you are walking at all. You start talking. You start laughing. You look at the nature surrounding you, and before you know it, you have reached your destination. I don’t recall ever getting weary while walking the Turkey Trot. God has a way of doing that if we will just keep going—He will bring people alongside of us to help us along.

At the airport they have what are called moving sidewalks. These are places for people with a lot of luggage to step on and take a rest. Stand to the right if you want a rest, or walk on the left if you want the moving sidewalk to get you there even faster. Either way, the moving sidewalk will get you to your destination.

Friend, God has a number of ways for you to wait on Him. Sometimes that involves a time of rest. Other times it involves being pushed from the nest. Whatever the case, when you wait well, He will be there to see you to the end.

And, frankly, the end just might surprise you.

No Place like Home

One of my favorite stories is the one of Dorothy from Kansas. You’ve heard it. You’ve probably seen it. Or maybe you’ve even seen the recent Broadway musical called Wicked. However the styles of songs or clothing may be, based on the version you love best, the story remains the same throughout. A young girl named Dorothy, along with her faithful dog Toto, are feeling discontent. They are feeling like there must be more to life than what they are living. Dorothy longs to go to another place where she feels she will have the chance to live out the reason why she is here. In short, she’s searching for her destiny. Where she belongs. Where she should wind up in this life.

Dorothy’s discontentment sets her off on a path, just like much of our discontentment does for us. It nudges us, pushes us, and prods us in the direction of seeking. We find ourselves on a yellow brick road of questions, discoveries, and even detours. Along Dorothy’s yellow-brick-road experience, she meets some others who are looking for that thing that is missing in them.

Maybe it’s the courage to live out who they were created to be.

Or the skills and training to reach their full potential intellectually.

Or maybe it’s someone who needs softening, to develop compassion and a bigger heart for others.

Whatever the need, Dorothy links up with others in a quest for destiny.

But just as God never takes someone from A to Z in a straight line, Dorothy and her friends didn’t get to where they needed to go either without first going through some detours and distractions. There was the poppy field, which sought to lull them to sleep in the ease of wonderment. Then there were also the monkeys sent to target and frighten them into turning back.

But the greatest problem of all was the wicked witch, Elphaba, who did everything she could to stop them, just as Satan does everything he can to stop us from moving forward to reach our destiny. All along the path Dorothy and her friends faced difficulty after difficulty. But the key in getting to their destination is they never gave up. They had a guiding force named Glenda overseeing their progress toward their destiny, similar to how you and I have the Holy Spirit guiding us in the right direction. Because of this, they pushed through, ultimately making it to the wizard—the one to give them what they lacked.

The irony of the story is that once they reached the wizard, they realized he had nothing to give. He was smoke and mirrors, after all—a man in search of his own true realization of destiny himself.

But they also came to grasp that the fulfillment of their own greatest desires were a lot closer than they ever thought. They were right there within each of them all along, just needing to be cultivated and developed on the way. Which is where our destinies usually are—within us in seed form, needing the time to be nurtured. In their search for destiny on the detours of the yellow brick road, they had grown and matured to the point where they could now live theirs out. The lion found his courage. The scarecrow found his brain. The tin man found his heart.

Yet Dorothy found the greatest lesson of them all.

She discovered that sometimes where you are trying to go isn’t any better than where you are.

When you truly come to realize this—along with the value of who you are and the worth of those around you—you discover your destiny. In recognizing how your life sovereignly merges and intersects with others at God’s divinely right time—each day, every day—you not only bring Him glory, but you also bring benefit, purpose, and joy to yourself and to all.

Click your heels three times, my friend.

Go ahead.

You are closer than you think.