We can hold firmly to our hope because God’s faithfulness is certain.
Now that summer is here, many families will be embarking on road trips to fun destinations where they will enjoy all manner of God’s creation, from ocean breezes to mountain air and refreshing lakes. I’m personally a lake girl. Lake house vacations are my absolute favorite! Especially with a porch that overlooks the lake, where you can hear the loons' haunting call and watch eagles fly overhead. My husband and I have our own canoe, which accompanies us to these lake house vacations. Ahh, just thinking about it, I wish I were there right now!
The drive up can be long. I’m always anxious to finally be at the house with the car unloaded. The worst is when you are not anticipating any issues with traffic, and then the highway comes to a complete standstill. This happened to my husband and me years ago when the road was literally shut down. People were getting out of their cars because there was nothing else they could do. Being an anxious person by nature, I don’t like feeling “trapped.” Not only that, but my expectation for our arrival time and the start of our vacation also felt hopeless, as I wondered how long we would have to sit and wait.
We can experience roadblocks in life as well. Figuratively speaking, according to the Cambridge Dictionary, a roadblock represents any difficulty, problem, or obstacle that stands in the way of someone's plans or objectives.
Human beings are, for the most part, natural planners. After all, it is our life. As such, we have goals and desires. We put together a plan and set out to execute it. However, it is the Sovereign Lord who has a perfect plan for our lives, and sometimes, our plans are not His plans. Proverbs 16:9 says, "A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps," and Proverbs 19:21 says, "Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails."
In order to redirect our steps to the Lord’s purposes, He may set up roadblocks, or we may be on the right path set out by the Lord, and He still sets up roadblocks to show His glory more so.
In the story of Moses, God tells him His plan for saving the Israelites from the Egyptians, but He also informs Moses that He will compel Pharaoh not to let the Israelites go… “Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I make you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land. But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. When Pharaoh does not listen to you, then I will lay My hand on Egypt and bring out My hosts, My people the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by great judgments. The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst.” So Moses and Aaron did it; as the Lord commanded them, thus they did.”
The next time you feel that your circumstances are hopeless, that one hit after the other is happening to discourage you from what you had hoped would even transpire, remember these three things:
1. The Safest Place to Be Is in the Will of God
Have you ever been running late, hit every light, and just became soo frustrated at all the “roadblocks” preventing you from getting to your destination on time only to come upon the scene of an accident and realize, had you left the house on time and not had to deal with those “roadblocks,” it could’ve been you in that wreck? This happened to my husband and me once, and although it was very unsettling, we ended up thanking God for the frustrating delays, recognizing that the Lord was keeping us safe.
He does the same thing for us when we try to set out in our own will, whether it be a job that we think is right for us, or a person that we feel we should marry, or a direction we feel led to. The Lord will put up roadblocks to protect us from ourselves and to divert us from possible adversity. We may be frustrated at first and even complain, but it is at that point that we should get down on our knees and seek the Lord’s will for our lives in that circumstance. "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13).
You will never be in a safer place than when you are in the will of God, even if it seems contrary to what you wanted. His plans are perfect, and He loves you with an everlasting love. When you embark with the Lord in His will, you will see Him work on your behalf. Whether it be smooth sailing or filled with perceived roadblocks, God’s will will prevail. “I know that You can do all things, And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2).
2. The One Who Promised Is Faithful
The Word of God is full of His promises to us. They are not written down as accounts of “other people’s promises,” but are just as much ours to claim. We can hold firmly to our hope because God’s faithfulness is certain.
But what do we do when we receive a promise from the Lord and then roadblock after roadblock pops up, seeming to derail any hope of seeing that promise realized? We may become discouraged. We may think we didn’t hear from the Lord correctly. We might even think God has forgotten us. But what if, like Moses, those roadblocks have been put in place so that we can hear, “...Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for under compulsion he will let them go, and under compulsion he will drive them out of his land" (Exodus 6:1). God’s ways are not our ways. What we perceive as roadblocks to our promise coming to fruition is God’s way of working mightily on our behalf. Believe Him when He says, “Now you shall see what I will do!”
Remember, the One who promised is faithful.
3. The Lowest Lows Bring About the Highest Joys
Summertime is usually the only time I have to read books. I like historical Christian fiction books. All good writers are able to weave a story that has at least one antagonist, and those characters can be very frustrating to the storyline. I mean, who doesn’t want to have books with everything going wonderfully and with happy endings? During our last vacation, I read a book by a new author, and the storyline was what I thought I wanted: everything going great and a happy ending. But I actually found it boring. I realized that the earmark of every good book is the antagonist. With an antagonist, when that storyline is resolved, you get your happy ending, and it makes the happy ending that much more joyful.
Life’s roadblocks can be like that, and then, suddenly, the Lord acts in such a way that we receive a beautiful ending to a trying season. We are in awe of what God did through all the roadblocks and can say, “Wow! Look what the Lord has done! He and He alone did it!” The joy we feel is so much higher than it would’ve been had everything been going along without any roadblocks. We would’ve been lacking the awe and wonder of how the Lord alone accomplished it.
The next time you find yourself in the lowest lows, remember your highest joy is coming! "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?" (Numbers 23:19).
God’s faithfulness prevails even with perceived roadblocks. He is the architect and builder of your life. He will use whatever means to bring you goodness.
"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11
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