Detours and Dead Ends

My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. Proverbs 2:1-5 ESV (emphasis mine).

We were fairly new to this area when I landed in a construction zone. The sign read, “ Wait for pilot car.” Seeing the long line of cars, I decided to take matters into my own hands and use the back roads home. It didn’t take long for me to get completely turned around. With spotty cell service along the back roads (mind you, this was back in 2006 – that issue has been mostly resolved since), I couldn’t pull up GPS. Not that any of these lanes would have shown up on Google Maps anyway. Some of the dirt roads led to dead ends, others landed me in cow pastures. Somehow, I eventually got turned around enough that I ended up right back where I’d started. My impatience and flawed sense of direction cost me an entire hour. Humbled by my wrongful self-confidence, I lined up in a whole new queue of cars – the previous line being long gone – and waited for the pilot car. Within minutes, it arrived and led us through the construction site to the other side.

Chapter 2 of Proverbs reminds us that wisdom and knowledge come from the Lord. We may think we know a thing or two, but that sense of pride and reliance on self sometimes gets us into trouble. The Message translates verses 12 through 15, “They (wisdom, knowledge, and good sense) will keep you from making wrong turns or following the bad directions of those who are lost themselves . . . traveling paths that go nowhere, wandering in a maze of detours and dead ends.”

If only I had waited for the one who could guide me through the mess and safely to the other side, I could have spared myself a lot of frustration and senseless wandering!

Prayer: May your word and your voice always be my go-to when life gets messy. Remind me not to rush headlong with my own feeble plans but to wait on You, even when the waiting seems long. In your name I pray, Amen.

Thought: “Relying on God has to start all over every day as if nothing has yet been done.” – C. S. Lewis