I always smile when I see authors mention European motorways in their novels. Often, they will have characters comment about how fast they are, how scary they are, how [fill in the blank] they are.
For me, they’re normal. I grew up with them. Nothin’ new.
I get it, though. If you’ve never been on one, they can seem daunting. However, even the most terrified person has to admit that “Autobahnen” are the easiest way to get from A to B. They’re flat; they’re direct; they’re quick.
When I was a young teen, I remember someone at a youth camp giving a talk. The context was entirely different, but he mentioned something that has stuck with me since: Life is no motorway.
Life Is Not Always Flat.
Life has its ups and downs. We go through valleys and we climb mountains. Sometimes it seems easy, like the path was rolled flat for us, and sometimes it’s a strenuous uphill struggle.
David in the Bible definitely knew this.
On the one hand, we see David celebrate marvelous victories (see 1 Samuel 17). Only shortly after, however, he finds himself a persecuted man by the king of Israel himself (see 1 Samuel 19)!
These ups and downs are described in Psalm 23. It is evident, though, that David was sure of this beautiful truth: no matter through how many valleys we go, we can know that God will always lead us along the best path according to His name’s sake.
Life Is Not Always Direct.
Sometimes, it feels like we’re taking detours.
When the people of Israel left Egypt, God led them step by step with a cloud during the day and a pillar of fire during the night. He did not take the most direct way to the promised land. Instead, He took them through the desert (Exodus 13:17-22).
While we may not always know why we are not directly getting to where we want to go, we can trust that God does.
The most direct way from Egypt to the promised land would have taken the people of Israel through the land of the Philistines. God made them take this detour “lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt” (v.17, KJV).
No matter what, we can know that God knows exactly why He takes us on a detour. When traveling along the path God wants us, not one step is wasted.
Life Is Not Always Quick.
Life goes according to God’s timing. Not ours. Someone in the Bible who knew this was Moses.
Moses grew up as an Israelite in the palace of the Egyptian pharaoh. When he saw that his people were being oppressed, he decided to take matters into his own hands. Seeing an Egyptian guard beating up a Hebrew, Moses went and killed the guard (Exodus 2:11-12). Moses wanted to help his people in his timing.
God had a different plan.
About forty years later, Yahweh, the Great I Am, called Moses and gave him a task (Acts 7:30). He was to lead his people out of captivity in Egypt into the promised land. All of this happened a lot later than Moses would have wanted. It happened in God’s timing.
Our life might not go according to our time-plan either. Our dreams, visions and goals may not be “quickly” achieved. We may seem to be stuck in the same situation for a long time. We may have to wait for many years until we see the breakthrough. Just like Moses did. But we can trust that God’s timing will always be better than ours.
Life Is No “Autobahn”.
Life is not flat, not direct and not quick. Life is no motorway. Life can be hard and complicated and confusing. But, as Christians, we know that no matter where life takes us, we never go alone.
After all, God promised, “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee” Isaiah 43:2.
When life isn’t flat, we can know that Jesus is with us. When life isn’t direct, we can know there is a reason. When life isn’t quick, we can know that God still has a good plan.
And that makes me glad that life is not a motorway.
