Weekly Devotional - February 8, 2013

"Pharaoh will think, 'The Israelites are wandering around

the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.'"

Exodus 14:3 NIV

Have you ever tried to map out how your life has been? Sometimes we think about what the future might look like and make big plans but the past holds lessons for us that are often overlooked. Take a closer look at where you've been. Map out your past and try to find God's hand in it.

What might look like aimlessness could actually be full of purpose. If you had mapped out the route taken by the Hebrew people as they fled Egypt you would come up with a squiggly line. You might think your toddler had taken a crayon and scribbled on the paper.

But it was not aimless wandering. Even though a direct route from Egypt to the Promised Land seems to make more sense, God had another plan. The well-trained Egyptian army could have easily overtaken the Hebrews on a predictable route. Although the Hebrew people would have been more confident in the obvious route, it would have surely led to greater hardship or their destruction.

God had another plan! And he often does in our lives, too. The obvious often overshadows other options. Our decisions often aren't made with much thought. Consider what God plans to do, however, and the obvious may become obviously undesirable.

Following the squiggly line through the desert led the Egyptians to under-estimate what would happen next. The Hebrews looked like sitting ducks on the pond. The pond, however, was the Red Sea and would become the grave for the Egyptians and the victory for the Hebrews. But only hours earlier, the Hebrews thought it would be the other way around.

God pulls victory out of defeat all the time. The key is to be completely obedient to his word even when it doesn't make sense. Pray that God will help you obey him even when it's tough so that you can experience life's victory.