When God Takes You On The Secenic Route -(Usher Annual)

WHEN GOD TAKES YOU ON THE SECENIC ROUTE

(Exodus 13:17-22 KJV) And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt: But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt. And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you. And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness. And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of ? re, to give them light; to go by day and night: He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of ?re by night, from before the people.

WHEN GOD TAKES YOU ON THE SECENIC ROUTE

MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS

IN THE TENOR AND TONE OF THE TEXT

GOD IS ABOUT TO LEAD ISRAEL OUT OF EGYPTIAN CAPTIVITY

AND IT`S IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND THERE WAS A WELL TRAVEL HIGHWAY CALLED VIA MARIS

THAT RAN STRAIGHT FROM EGYPT TO PALESTINE

TO SOME IT WAS KNOWN AS THE PHILISTINE INTERSTATE

IN OTHER WORDS ALL I`M TRYING TO TELL YOU

IT WOULD HAVE TAKEN ISRAEL 10 DAYS TO MAKE THE JOURNEY TO THE PROMISE LAND

BUT YET GOD HAD A DETOUR IN MIND

SO HE TOOK ISRAEL ON THE SECENIC ROUTE

AND TOOK ISREAL THE LONG WAY AROUND TOWARD THE RED SEA

IN WHICH LOOKED LIKE A DEAD END STREET

BUT AIN`T IT AMAZING THAT IN LIFE

THAT GOD STILLS TAKE US ON THE SENECIC ROUTE

BUT I STOP BY BETHESDA TO REMIND YOU THAT

GOD KNOWS WHAT HE `S DOING

And GOD Does not lead us along the shortest route in this life in which we live.

AND If we permit the Lord to direct our steps,

Expect to be led occasionally on paths that may seem unnecessarily long and indirect.

YOU SEE On the day of the Exodus, the whole nation gathered.

IT WAS the day they’ve waited for after 400 years of bondage.

They are on their journey to the promise land.

NOTICE-- NOTICE—NOTICE

THEY DID`NT HAVE-

No Google maps,

Or no Global Positioning Satellite to guide them.

BUT THEY HAD SOMETHING MUCH BETTER

They have a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night to usher them to the promise land.

IN OTHER WORDS THEY HAD THE BEST ESCORT SERVICE ANYBODY COULD EVER HAVE

BECAUSE God ushered them with His presence.

AND they had the reminder of God’s promises in the bones of Joseph.

Remembering that God had amazingly ful?lled His promises.

In other words

God is ushering them out of Egypt, across the Red Sea, through the wilderness and into their ?nal destination the promise land.

Notice –Notice-Notice

They are already in battle formation.

The men are in front in case of an ambush,

And in the rear, the more vulnerable stand with weakness in their knees.

The pillar of ?re and cloud starts to move,

But to THEM GOD is going the wrong way!

The Promised Land is north and God is going south.

He’s taking a big detour!

But it`s important to understand that

God’s has his reasoning behind taking a detour.

Because ---“If they take the Philistine Interstate, take the easy way and then suddenly run head?rst into a major con?ict, they might backslide, and return to Egypt.

You see

” If life was too easy,

if we never had a setback

and had smooth sailings all of our life,

Then when something ambushes us,

Like heart disease, we might not be prepared on how to handle the situation.

God wants us to grow up, and He never gives us more than we can handle until we’re ready for it.

The text reveals that

God led Israel on a roundabout way through the desert toward the Red Sea.

He even told Israel to reverse course, and make camp on a dead end street up against the Red Sea.

Which led Pharaoh to think, “

They’re lost and confused. I’ll run them down and bring them back to Egypt again.”

You see

Egypt represents, Satan’s kingdom of darkness.

The taskmasters represent the fallen angels and demons.

Pharaoh represents Satan himself

And the Israelite represents God’s children who are in bondage to sin all over the Earth.

The name “Pharaoh” means “sun” or “his nakedness.”