It happens when we least expect
it. We’re traveling down the highway, making great time, knowing we’ll reach
our destination on time. And then, out of nowhere, we see it: the bright orange
sign. It has two simple words printed on it, “Detour ahead.” Before we know it,
we’re off the highway, traveling some winding two lane road. Our speed slows
dramatically, and the traffic resembles a caravan of snails inching toward
their destination.
Our typical reaction to the
detour? We whine, we gripe, we bemoan our fate.
Jesus experienced a detour too.
One minute He was in the fast lane. People crowded around Him, begging to see
Him and hear Him speak. They called Him “Savior” and wanted to make Him king.
They threw palm branches and their robes at His feet, praising Him as He
entered Jerusalem. Surely He was traveling quickly toward fame, riches, and
royalty.
But a detour caused an abrupt
about face to that trip. Jesus was arrested, beaten, humiliated, and nailed,
nearly naked, to a rugged wooden cross. How did He react to this detour? He
uttered two sentences that illustrate His attitude. “Father…not my
will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42) and “Father, forgive them, for they know
not what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Because He willingly traveled the detour,
believers receive eternal life.
On our highway of life, we will
encounter unexpected detours. How will we react? Will we whine and complain? Or
will we submit to the One who knows the final destination?
I Peter 1:6, 7 “In this you
greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief
in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth
than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and
may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
