Detours, Dead Ends, and Dry Holes | Part 1

When things go wrong on this journey called life, is it because we've misread the map?

Listen to Adrian Rogers. We are on the King's highway and we're on a journey to joy with Christ as our companion, the Holy Spirit as our guide, and the Bible as our map. But yet many times it doesn't turn out just exactly like we expect. We find a lot of unexpected things along the road of life, and it's not, however, because we misread the map.

Welcome to Love Worth Finding, featuring profound truth simply stated by Adrian Rogers. As God leads us through life, we may find ourselves on back roads, dead-end alleys, or in dry places. What should we do when we face detours, dead ends, and dry holes? In Exodus chapter 13, the people of God found themselves on a long journey out of Egypt, facing a lot of obstacles on the way. What can we learn from their journey? If you have your Bible, turn to Exodus chapter 13. We'll begin in verse 18.

Once again, here's Adrian Rogers with part one of Detours, Dead Ends, and Dry Holes. Take your Bibles, please, and turn, would you, to Exodus chapter 13. Exodus chapter 13.

I want to speak to you today on this subject, Detours, Dead Ends, and Dry Holes. I am reading Exodus chapter 13 and verse 17, and it came to pass when Pharaoh had let the people go that God led them, and we'll just stop right there, and in a moment we're going to read a whole lot more, so just keep your Bible open, but notice the fact God led them. He leadeth me.

Oh, blessed thought. Words with heavenly comfort fraught. He leadeth me. Aren't you glad that God does lead us? That the Bible says as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. All the way my Savior leads me.

What have I to ask beside? Can I doubt his tender mercy? Who through life has been my guide? And we thank God for that, and we rejoice in that God leads us, and yet sometimes, friends, we find ourselves in the biggest messes, and we find ourselves on back roads. We find ourselves in dead-end alleys. We find ourselves in dry places, and we say, well, if God is leading us, evidently he doesn't know how to read a map, or else I don't know how to follow. I must be out of this will, because if God is leading, how come I keep on ending up on detours and dead-ends and in desert places? Well, we're going to try to answer that today from the Word of God, and we're going to find out that God does lead us, and we are on the King's Highway, and we're on a journey to joy with Christ as our companion, the Holy Spirit as our guide, and the Bible as our map, but yet many times it doesn't turn out just exactly like we expect. We find a lot of unexpected things along the road of life, and it's not, however, because we misread the map. First of all, I want you to look here at the discipline of detours, the discipline of detours, and it came to pass when Pharaoh had let the people go that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near, for God said, less peradventure, the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt, but God led the people about.

Now look at that. Just underscore that phrase, God led the people about. That really means that God led them in circles.

God led the people about through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea, and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt. Now, the Bible tells us very clearly that God did not lead them the short way. God did not lead them a direct route, excuse me, but God led them on a detour. God led them roundabout, and it wasn't a mistake. It was a divine detour, and why did God lead them this way? Why didn't God just say, as God was taking the Israelites out of the land of Egypt through the wilderness and into the land that flowed with milk and honey, into the promised land, why didn't God just take the shortest route?

We say that a straight line is the shortest distance between two points. It may be the shortest distance, but it's not always the best distance, and God has a purpose many times in his detours, and he tells us very quickly and very plainly why he did not lead them directly in. It's in verse 17, and it came to pass that when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near, for God said, less peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt. Now, God knew had he taken them the straight way, they would have gone through Philistia, and if they had gone through Philistia, they would have met the warlike Philistines, and when they saw the Philistines, they would have been frightened, and when they were frightened and their hearts were filled with fear, they would have turned around. They would have turned their heels, and they would have gone back to Egypt.

They would have become dismayed. They would have become discouraged, and they would have become defeated, and so God didn't lead them that way. Now, God knew that they weren't ready.

They were to battle. There was a war, and God has called us to a war, a holy war. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places, but I'm so glad that God knows what I'm ready for, and I'm so glad that God knows what you are ready for. Now, God has a land of blessing for you, and God has a place of fulfillment for you, and God has a job for you to do, and God has blessing upon blessing that he wants to give to you, and yet he may have you right now out in the wilderness going round and round in circles, and you may think that you're out of the will of God, but you're not out of the will of God. God is leading you round about because God knows that you're not quite ready for some of the things that he has in store for you, and so that winding road, that rocky road, that desert road, that wilderness road that sometimes we find ourselves on does not mean that we're out of the will of God. God led them. This is the whole point that God led them on a detour. God did not lead them to the straightest route. Sometimes, folks, you can get there too quickly. I've seen these 90-day wonders.

They go up like a rocket, and they come down like a rock. They get out there, and they want it, and they want it now, but you see the reason that God led them in the wilderness. It was God's boot camp.

It was out there that he was going to toughen them. Notice the Bible where God led them in verse 18. The Bible says, but God led the people about through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea.

Now, what was that like? It was a place of hardness. It was a place of drought. It was a place of discipline, and what was God doing with them out there? Well, God was just simply toughening them up. It was God's boot camp.

It was God's training camp, and God was getting them ready. Now, doubtless, they didn't understand it. They didn't know what was going on at that time. They didn't know all that God had in store for them, but they didn't have to know. It's enough that God knew. They had never seen the Philistines.

Doubtless, they'd never heard about the Philistines. They didn't know what was out there, but God knew that they weren't quite ready. Maybe you've been praying and asking God to give you a certain job, and you don't have it yet. Maybe you've been praying and asking God to give you a home. Maybe you've been praying about your date life, the person you're going to marry. Maybe some of you are wanting to go to school. Maybe some of you are wanting to get into the ministry. Maybe some of you are wondering why you seem to be going around in circles.

You're just not ready. God is never in a hurry. God called Moses, and to get Moses ready, he spent 40 years on the backside of the desert. God called Paul, and Paul wasn't ready, and Paul went down to Arabia, and God just simply got them ready. And you know, that's a blessing to me sometimes because we all think we have to be achieving, and we have to be going in straight lines or we're out of the will of God.

Not necessarily so. The important thing is not that you know. The important thing is that God knows and that you follow him. Notice in verse 21 of this same chapter, and the Bible says, And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them the way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light to go by day and night. And he took not away the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night from before the people. What does that pillar of fire and that pillar of cloud represent? It represents the Holy Spirit.

As they came out of Egypt, the Passover lamb represents the Lord Jesus Christ, and the pillar of fire and cloud represents the Holy Spirit to lead them. You see, after God redeems us, God sends his Holy Spirit to lead us, and Jesus said, He, the Holy Spirit, will guide you. And just as that pillar of fire and cloud was their guidance in that wilderness, the Holy Spirit is my guidance in this wilderness. And the important thing, ladies and gentlemen, is not that I see where I'm going. The important thing is that day by day I have my eyes on the pillar of cloud and night by night on the pillar of fire.

Moment by moment I need to walk in the Spirit. Now, it may be that you're out of the will of God, and it may be that you're going around in circles because you haven't read your map right, and because you haven't listened to your guide. It may be that you're completely out of the will of God, and you're stumbling and bumbling out around in some wilderness waste, and you've got no business being there.

That may be, but I'm going to tell you something else. It may also be that you are perfectly in the will of God, and God knows exactly what he's doing with you, and you're still going around in circles. So you see, it's your job just to make sure that you have your eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ, that moment by moment that there is that inner witness of that pillar of cloud and that pillar of fire, and that's all you need to know.

You don't need to know the rest, and you don't need to understand why it is that things don't seem to work out for you right now. God knows some things you don't know. God sees some Philistines you don't see. God sees some weaknesses you don't see, and God knows some things that you may not know. So you just keep your eyes on him, and remember the discipline of divine detours. God had them in the wilderness for purpose.

It was his boot cap to tighten them up and to strengthen them up. All the way my Savior leads me, cheers each winding path I tread, gives me grace for every trial, feeds me with the living bread. Now the second thing I want you to notice, not only the discipline of detours. He led them on a detour to discipline them, to help them to grow, to toughen up, but I want you to notice also the dilemma of dead ends, the dilemma of dead ends. Look, if you will, here in chapter 14 now, beginning in verse 8. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel. And the children of Israel went out with a high hand, but the Egyptians pursued after them all the horses and the chariots of Pharaoh and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them in camping by the sea beside by Hehiroth before Beosiphon. And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them, and they were sore afraid. And the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord, and they said unto Moses because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? Therefore, hast thou dealt thus with us to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians?

For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness. Now remember, they're still being led of the Lord, and this time they come to something more aggravating than a detour. Now detours are aggravating. Nobody likes to get on a detour, a back road, but friend, there's something worse than a detour. It's after you've been on a detour for a long time, you come to a dead end.

Amen. I mean, when there's a road ends here, and there's nowhere to go, and it is just a sheer dead end. Now that's where these Israelites had come to now, and God is still leading them. They're on one side of the mountains, and on the other side of the mountains, and in front is the Red Sea, and behind them comes Pharaoh with his sword glittering in the sun and blood in his eye, and all of his armies and all of his chariots. They were between the sword and the sea. They were boxed in.

They were hemmed in. There was no way out that they could see, and now they began to blame Moses, and their aggravation with their detour turns from aggravation to desperation. Moses, can't you read a map?

Well, he read it all right. He was following the Lord. They were not there by happenstance. It's very clear that God led them there.

Look in chapter 14, if you will. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, speak unto the children of Israel that they encamped before Phiharioth between Migdal and the sea. That's exactly where God wanted them. God put them there. God led them there, and God did it for a purpose.

God had a wonderful purpose, and what was his purpose? Look in verse 3. For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, they are entangled in the land. Now, you see, God entangled them there. God put them in that dead end because he was baiting his hook, and he was going to bring judgment on old Pharaoh, and he was using the Israelites to bait his hook, and Pharaoh will say they're entangled in the land. The wilderness hath shut them in. That is, they're at a dead end, and God says, and I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he shall follow after them, and I will be honored upon Pharaoh and upon all his host, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord, and they did so. God had a purpose.

Now, let me say something else. In life, you're going to come to some situations that are not just aggravating. You're going to come right up against it, and if you haven't been right up against it, you're going to come there. There's no home without its hush, and when God leads you, God's going to lead you to a place of desperation time after time again, and you won't see any way out. I mean, there's no preacher can give you a sermon that'll tell you a way out. There's no book that's going to help you. You are just there, and there is no human way out.

It is not a discipline. It is a dilemma, the dilemma of dead ends. That's where they were, but I want to tell you something, friend. When you come to that place, there's still no panic in heaven, only plans, only plans.

There's never been any panic in heaven, never. God knew exactly what he was doing. Now, the Jews didn't know what God was doing, and the point I want to make is they weren't out of the will of God when they came to this dead end. They were right in the will of God. It was God that led them there, and why did God lead them there?

So that the place of desperation would become the place of dependence. That we come to the place that we see absolutely no way out, and then we have to cast ourselves completely, totally upon the Lord. Look in chapter 14 and verse 13, and notice what God said to the children of Israel to do. And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show you this day. For the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them no more forever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore cryest thou unto me?

Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward, but lift thou up thy rod and stretch thine hand over the sea and divide it, and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. Now God brought them to the place of desperation that he might bring them to the place of dependence. What is the purpose of the dead end in your life? When you come to the place, I mean by the hand of God, that God brings you there.

What is the purpose of it? Well, the four things that God told the Israelites are true of you today. What does God want you to do? Number one, fear not. Look in verse 13, look at it. And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not. You see, God will allow you to come to a place where there seems to be all kinds of things to fear. And then he says, Fear not. Three hundred and sixty-five times in the Bible and one time for every day in the year, the Bible has said, Fear thou not, or its equivalent.

The Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man shall do to me. And so God brings you to this place of desperation that he might bring you to this place of dependence that he might say to you, Fear not. And then he says to you, Stand still. Look if you will, please, in verse 13. And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still. That is, it's out of your hands now.

Finally, there's nothing you can do. The Bible says in Psalm 46, verse 10, Be still and know that I am God. Oh, we hurry around. We're so busy manipulating, trying, conniving, scheming. But finally we come to a place where God hems us in with the sea here, the mountain here, the mountain there, and the devil behind. And there's no way out but up. Just stand still. Be still and know that I am God.

We always think we have to do something, even if it's wrong, don't we? Somebody talked about those hogs. You remember that herd of swine, 2,000 hogs that were driven out of that demon-possessed man. And they went into a herd of swine. And the Bible says the swine went down into the sea and were drowned.

You remember that story in Mark 5? Someone imagines one of those hogs saying to the other hogs, Now look, we're in a mess, but whatever we do, let's stay together and keep moving. Now I think that's really the way human beings think today. We've got to do something. Just do something. Sometimes God places us in a place where there's nothing we can do. I mean, there's no counselor we can go to. There's no banker can help us. There's no doctor can help us.

There's no one can help us. God just says, Fear not. Stand still.

Be still and know that I am God. The place, the dead end that he brings us to. I mean, just a dead end.

Just a dead end. A dilemma. And then we just fear not. We stand still and then notice next and see the salvation of the Lord. Now that doesn't mean to see it after it takes place.

It hadn't taken place when he told them to see it. In other words, you by the eye of faith, see what God is going to do. It didn't mean stand still and watch God do it because God didn't do it until they started moving again. It meant stand still long enough for you to see what God is going to do before he does it.

You see, we see things that are not as though they are that they might be so. There is just this time of faith where we just simply say, I refuse to fear. I stop. I place myself, dear God, in your hands. God, if you don't do it, it won't be done. And now by faith, I see my way out even when I don't see it. What a bold prayer you may want to echo today.

God, if you won't do it, it won't be done. We'll hear part two of this message tomorrow. In the meantime, do you have a prayer request that you'd like to share with us? It's one of our greatest honors at Love Worth Finding to come alongside you and pray with you and for you. If you can, go to our website home page, lwf.org and scroll down to find our prayer wall. You'll find the option there to either submit a prayer request or pray for others or both.

We can't wait to hear from you again. Go to lwf.org and scroll down to our prayer wall. Now, if you'd like a copy of today's message, request one by the title Detours, Dead Ends, and Dry Holes.

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The important thing is not that you know, the important thing is that God knows and that you follow him. Let that encourage you today and join us tomorrow right here on Love Worth Finding. A listener in Washington wrote recently, I want to share his powerful words with you.

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