By Another Way

O

ne of the things my dad passed on to me was a good sense of direction.  He taught me at a very early age that knowing where you are at all times is vitally important.  Even when you are lost, if you know the four basic points of the compass, you can find your way to your destination even if the road you take is different from the one you initially intended.

Now dad never sat down with me and grilled me on the finer points of reading a map. He never called me over and lectured me on how to get my bearings if I were ever lost.  His method of teaching me was much more practical.  Daddy taught me by example, which is far superior to lectures and tests.

Whenever we traveled, dad never took the same route twice. Instead, he would go one way and come home another.  It drove my mother crazy (and it still does) because she often thought he was lost.  But dad wasn’t lost, even if he had never traveled the road he was driving.  He depended on his knowledge of direction to assist him when the way ahead was unknown. 

The location of the sun and the time of day told him the directions for east or west.  From there, he could easily determine the remaining directions and could plot his course accordingly.  It always amazed me how he knew things like this.  We never got totally lost, we always arrived at our destination and in the process, I learned several new ways to get where I was going.

This knowledge became very useful for me while I lived in Europe.  I had never been to Paris, nor had dad for that matter.  But the lessons he had instilled in me at an early age gave me the confidence I needed to strike out on my own.  I bought a map, found my location, oriented myself to the four points of the compass, and away I went.  I even took different routes back to my hotel just to prove I could do it.  The lessons dad taught me were solid and I have used the many times since.

Occasionally along life’s road, we find ourselves forced to take another route.  Sometimes the path ahead is blocked, sometimes there is a detour, and sometimes the road ahead is under construction.  All these instances force us to change direction, to run aside, and to tread a path unknown to us.  At such times we may feel a little uneasy, but we should never be afraid because our heavenly father knows where he is going.  He will not get lost and he will never lead us in the wrong direction.

However, we must learn to orient our lives in such a way that we can easily discern the right direction to take.  Jesus has taught us by example to spend time in prayer with God, to trust him, and to follow his commands.  Even when the path ahead is uncertain and unknown to us, our ability to discern God’s presence and his direction will keep us on the right path every time.

When wise men came to worship Jesus, they took a familiar road to Bethlehem.  However, the scriptures tell us they didn’t take the same road home.  Matthew 2:12 says, “And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.”

 Here we see God’s divine intervention in human affairs.  Herod’s request to worship Jesus was a lie; he intended to kill the child.  So, God changed the wise men’s route home.  They did not argue, they did not complain, and they did not question God’s purpose. They simply oriented themselves to his command, they changed direction, and they went home another way!

God has promised to make a way for us.  It is not always the way we would choose and it isn’t always smooth and easy.  Sometimes he has us change direction and has us take a road that is less smooth and more difficult.  Although we don’t understand his reasons, we can always trust his heart.  Remember, even though the wise men took another road, they made it safely home.  That is God’s promise to us today if we continue to walk obediently with him.