Normally it takes only eleven days to travel from Mount Sinai to Kadesh-barnea, going the way of Mount Seir. But forty years after the Israelites left Egypt, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses addressed the people of Israel, telling them everything the Lord had commanded him to say. Deuteronomy 1:2-3 

In the early days of computer navigation, the accuracy of the ETA (estimated time of arrival) boggled my brother’s mind. He drove long distances for his job, so he observed at one point, “You can’t beat the computer by more than a minute or two. If you think you’re going to make up time on a drive, you’re just going to take risks that won’t pay off.” His words have played in my mind many times when Google Maps forecasted an arrival time I didn’t like and have probably kept me safe a time or two when I was tempted to try to beat the computer. 

Imagine if your ETA was 11 days and it took 40 years instead! No way. It’s one thing to accept that you aren’t going to arrive on time. It’s quite another to spend decades wandering. 

For many of us, we would like the kind of clear and efficient direction from God that we get from our navigation system. I want the best route with a reliable ETA. I want to reach the destination a minute or two early and bask in the glory of accomplishing God’s will for me before he dials in another destination. 

But that was not Moses’ experience and usually isn’t ours either. Why does God send us the long way? Here are a few things I’ve discovered on the long route: 

  1. Patience. God is not bound by time and taking the long way can remind us that in him there is no hurry. 
  2. Relationships. The drive to reach a destination and check something off never leaves space for the curiosity, the questions, the conversation, that connects and deepens our relationships with God or people. 
  3. Amazing sights. I will never forget the first time I came over the hill on I-90 near Chamberlain, South Dakota, to find the Missouri River suddenly wide and blue in front of me. I thought South Dakota was a dull, brown blur that stood between me and my destination until I was overwhelmed by a moment of sheer beauty.  

During those 40 years, Moses discovered some things. He spends Deuteronomy equipping the people with everything he’s learned so that it might go well with them as they enter the promised land without him.  

Questions for reflection: 

  1. Is there an area of your life where you have been seeking God’s guidance, and the answer hasn’t come as quickly or clearly as you would like? Have you discovered anything unexpected while you wait? 
  2. Where do you find yourself rushing, hurrying, or trying to beat the computer? What might you discover if you took the long way around?  
  3. Moses’ long journey did not get him to the promised land, but it did set up a legacy. The people of God, then and now, looked to his experiences to understand God better and follow him more faithfully. Who will benefit from what you are discovering?