God is more interested in our Spiritual development than seeing us arrive quickly at our goals and dreams. When setting a GPS for a road trip, I find myself constantly looking at the estimated time of arrival with one goal…beat that time. Many of us set goals with a microwave mindset. We want “x” and we want to arrive at “x” as quickly as we can. Often times the goal of “x” shouldn’t even take that long to arrive at…just do “a,b, and c” and viola! Many times, I find myself setting these same expectations not only for myself, but others in my life too. “Why can’t they just do this, this, and this…their life would be so much better.” I look for shortcuts to get from point A to point B, and I expect others to do the same. There’s nothing wrong with setting goals, having high expectations, or even seeing how I can obtain both as quickly as possible…HOWEVER, I must remember God doesn’t necessarily operate on shortcuts and seldom does. His primary interest for me is not for me to hit my goals, but rather mature in my faith and walk with Him. So… the path in life God has for me is rarely a straight line. It is a longer journey… longer in miles and longer in travel time.
After using Moses to free the Israelites from slavery and flee Egypt, God could have taken them on a much more direct path to their destination…YET, Exodus 13:17-18 states God led them away from the highway and into the desert. If you look at the map, it even appears they go in circles part of the time. Why did God lead them on this long path through a desert? The lessons they learned on this path were necessary to arrive at their goals while maintaining a dependency on Him. While it is hard to appreciate walking through the desert in life’s journey, there is a reason. Proverbs 16:9 says we can plan our ways, but God determines our steps.
When we set a destination in our GPS, we trust the steps it gives us to take. When we set destinations in life through goals, plans, or dreams…we must also trust the Designer of life and the steps He puts in front of us. I must also take my eyes off the estimated time of arrival…just trust the next step.