Finding God’s Will The Detour Sign March 24th 2002
This signpost is one of the hardest for us to accept but as I have studied I have found it to one of the most important.
None of us really like detours, when we want to get somewhere, we want to get there, and we don’t want to be bothered with all of this detour stuff. And something else I have found out, we usually are more upset when we are traveling in new territory and the detour sign appears right over the hill. We are just not prepared for this kind of delay. We don’t like trouble, we don’t like our plans messed up, and we don’t like annoying inconvenience. But how many of us would like to run up on a washed out bridge or a dead end road? So the detours are there for our protection.
Now what about the detours of life? That is what we are going to talk about this am. What happens when we are moving along in life and all of a sudden God puts up a detour sign. Are they there to annoy us to inconvenience us or are they there for God to provide and to protect us. God speaks to us if you will through our circumstances and one of the circumstances of life you and I can expect is the DETOUR sign. Are there any detour signs in your life? Are you on a detour right now? I want us to look at some truths about detours this morning that may help us when we top the hill of life and there is this sign that says detour one mile ahead. It may help us to accept these detours a little better.
1. GOD HAS A DEVINE DESIGN FOR DETOURS. Just that statement alone should encourage us but somehow we don’t seem to get it. You see when God sends down a detour it is his design, His will, so we should be thinking, His will is so much better for me than mine it makes NO SENSE to get all aggravated and bothered with this detour. But you know and I know that does not happen often so lets look at the Devine Design of detours.
a. Phil.1: 12-14; HE USES PRISONS; THEY ARE progressive not preventive; In this account we see Paul saying the detour he encountered was for progress not to prevent him form doing something he wanted to do. Or going somewhere he wanted to go. Where was he? Prison; can prison be a divine design? Absolutely. I can even trust him in this kind of circumstance. These prisons were not anything you would want to happen to you but when it did he said this is ok because progress is being made here. He did not look at this prison as God wanting to prevent him from something. How do you look at your detour? Are you ok with it or are you thinking he is just trying to keep me from what I want to do. God’s design for these detours are for progress for us for His work in and through us so why not let him use it for that? Paul did not want to be in prison but he learned once he got there, God had a purpose. Progress? What progress? Paul wrote four letters while he was imprisoned. It appears he also wrote 2Tim. and possibly other letters that WE know nothing about. That is progress. Now what about you are you taking pen in hand so to speak or are you kicking against this detour?
b. He also uses persecutions; Acts 1:8; “the remotest part of the earth” how is he going to get them there? Are they just going to pick up and leave? No if you will read acts very carefully, God used persecutions to take them to where he wanted them to go. God’s design for detours is for progress, and he wanted to progress the gospel so he used persecution to do it. Some of the detours we are on bring this kind of stuff. None of us like it but that is part of the trip walking in God’s will.
c. God’s detours also are paths that have open and closed doors; often times in detours we get confused; But God will provide open and closed doors to get us where he wants us, if we are paying attention and being sensitive to Him. 1 Cor. 16:8-9; What was the original desire here? What detoured him? The open door;
Acts 16:6-10; what kept Paul from preaching in Galatia and Phygia? Why did they not travel? The door closed; what happened? A vision and the rest is history. God wants us to follow Him even more than we do. He is able to redirect us to detour us to get us where he really wants us and sometimes he uses prisons, persecutions, and paths that have open and closed doors.
2. The second truth about detours; THERE ARE SOME GREAT AND PRESENT DANGERS WHEN IT COMES TO DETOURS.
a. The presence of the enemy; Matt.4: 10; always this danger; Jesus is in the wilderness, he is in here because of the Will of God; note how the devil opens a door for Jesus.
a. V3 stones into bread; what a door
b. V6-7 test Him instead of trust Him
c. V8-11; opportunity instead of operating under the authority of God. Jesus closed every door with scripture; Note the result; there is always this great and present danger when it comes to detours, make sure the enemy is not opening a door for you to travel down a path that will take you away from the will of God.
b. 2cor.2: 12-13; letting an open door come before a pressing need; why had Paul gone to Troas? God had opened the door. What did he find there? Why did he not take advantage? No rest for his spirit. God wanted him to go to Corithinians to see how they were doing, so they took precedence over Troas. Seek the Lord we walk by faith not by sight. I have known some, who have had this dilemma, and they went the other way and it was costly.
c. Powerful feelings; and you know what I have to say here; our personal desires can really be a danger to us; we will either go on a detour our selves because of feelings or ignore God’s detours; “I feel Like” “I felt” Let God lead then the emotions will catch up;
3. GOD IS SOVERIGN IN THE DETOURS; face it we don’t like them; none of us like difficulties that detours bring to our life; But God is more interested in my character than my circumstances that are difficult. He uses them to shape me in to depend; He would like for me to learn academically from the word but it usually vocationally by putting me into situations. God is Sovereign and He is able to use the difficult circumstances turn them around and us them for good.
The story of Joseph; Form pit to the panicle; Constantly through this whole process God was turning bad into Joseph’s good; Only three things to remember about God’s Sovereignty that we call detours:
1. 45:5; 7; 8; GOD SENT ME HERE
2. 50:19-20; I OUGHT TO BE HERE “I AM IN GOD’S PLACE” God is able to accomplish His purpose through what ever life throws at us; Romans 8:28-29;
3. I am going to allow God to use them for my good and his glory; So let’s have at it; we can respond with bitter and anger at this detour, or we can say ok God here we are now let see what we can learn.
1. God’s detours both protect and provide for us, there is no other way He can do this most of the time unless He carries us on a detour;
2. The detours are like turtles on fences; where I am in life is not a result of my doing but God placed me here; what is going to be our response?
