Monday Morning Devotion-February 11, 2019

Taking a Divine Detour

Putting out to sea from there (Sidon) we encountered headwinds that made it difficult to keep the ship on course.    Acts 27:4

       It's February and you know what that means.  Valentine's Day, Lincoln's birthday, and something else. Oh yeah, I get another year older.  Trust me I am thankful for that.

            Your birthday month is usually when you start to think about all the things you have done in your life and begin to think about where you are headed.  Four years ago, while I was doing this ruminating (and learned a big word) I wrote this devotion because if you are like me it sometimes seems that when you are headed in the direction you want to go a "Divine Detour" changes your course.  That has happened in your life I'm sure.  And it was what happened to the Apostle Paul that changed his life.

            Paul and his shipmates thought they were heading straight to Rome.  Surprise, Surprise. God had a Divine Detour in mind. What those on board the ship had no control over was the wind factor.

            As Mark Batterson points out a light wind began blowing from the South and the ship, which was built way back before the advent of powerful motors that propel ships ahead, couldn't make any progress.  The wind wouldn't let them.  The wind, not a human being, was in control. The wind became captain of the ship. It decided where the ship would go.  And we know Who was in control of the wind don't we?  Little did these ship-sters know that they were being taken on a Divine detour.

            How many times does that happen in our lives?  We think we are going to a certain place and do a certain thing and it doesn't happen.  Something comes up that stops us, maybe even turns us in a different direction.  How often do we think…well, that's just a Divine detour?  I'll just wait and see what God has in mind.  Where he is leading me will soon be clear.  Almost never is the answer we come up with to that question, I would imagine.

            No, we usually have in mind where we want to go and what we want to have happen.  So, when the forced detour starts we resist.  We try to stop the change, get things turned around and forge ahead in our chosen direction along the paths we deem best.

            And we may keep on trying to do it our way until it becomes impossible to get to where we hoped to be.  So, it was with Paul's ship.  They finally had to give up and just let the wind take them where it was going to take them.  And the result was not a good one, at least in their eyes.  The winds got stronger and stronger.  Soon they were in a full-fledged storm at sea, being battered and tossed all about.  It looked ominous indeed.

            "We took such a violent battering from the storm that we began to throw the cargo overboard.  When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we final gave up all hope of being saved."  Think about that.  Can you picture how they felt, the despair and the hopelessness?  There was nothing they could do.  God had them right where he wanted them.  The Divine Detour was working just fine.

            It wasn't the first time God had thrown an unexpected detour into the Apostle Paul's life.  "…some of Paul's destinations were planned.  But many of them weren't even on the itinerary. …God used what seemed like detours to position Paul right where He wanted him."

            A mob had run Paul out of town in Thessalonica, so he ended up in Greece.  Once his ship sank in the Mediterranean Sea, so he ended up with an unscheduled visit to Malta.  And there were others.

            Frequently God closed the door to an anticipated destination for Paul and opened the way to a mission in a different place.  Why?  Well, God doesn't have to explain His reasons, but usually when a detour is thrown in our path the new adventure is much better than the one that we had planned.

            As Batterson says, "we can't control what happens to us, but we can control our response."

            When they were in the heart of the storm Paul prayed and shared with the others what God revealed to him. "Now I urge you to keep up your courage.  Last night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me and said, you must stand trial before Caesar and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.  I have faith in God that it will happen just as He told me.  Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island."

            The ship wrecked, and they floated ashore on pieces of it on the Island of Malta.  It was there that God worked a miracle.  While building a fire Paul was attacked by a poisonous snake.  A viper attached itself to his arm. Paul shook it off into the fire.  Then, while the islanders watched to see if his arm would swell up or if he would pass out and die from the snake's poison, nothing happened.  Then, they thought he must be a god.

            Because of that the chief official of the island took Paul and his associates in and they dwelt in his home for three months.  Then, they acquired another ship and headed successfully for Rome. What looked like a fatal detour for Paul became another ministry opportunity.

            When I look back I can see many Divine Detours in my life.  How about you? I once was fired from a television sports job I liked because the general manager and I didn't see eye-to-eye. Naturally, I didn't discern that as a Divine Detour.  Couldn't see the good in it. But, it lead to a job in radio where I was able to broadcast Florida State University Baseball games and several World Series for 23 years.

            After I got a divorce and was really down in the dumps, sad and frustrated I could never have known that was a Divine Detour that would lead me to the true love of my life.  It freed me up to meet The Lovely Susette and marital bliss I could only have imagined before.

            If I think back I can see incident after incident where the Lord closed one door and opened another by using His Divine Detour method.  I'm sure if you think back to some of the unexpected twists and turns in your life you will now understand what the Lord had in mind.

            Mark Batterson says, "If you feel like you're stuck in a tragedy, here's my advice; give Jesus complete editorial control over your life.  You have to quit trying to write your own story.  And you need to accept Jesus not only as Lord and Savior but also as Author,"

            The Lord is writing our story and often the plot that surprises us is a  Divine Detour.

Monday Prayer:  Lord help us to be aware of the Divine Detours that occur in our lives and how they often lead to Divine Appointments that move us along your desired pathway.  Amen!