Detour

“We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.” Proverbs 16:9

Don’t you hate it when you have things planned just right, then something happens and you have to change everything? The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, but sometimes our straight lines take a left turn, then a right turn and then two more left turns. Soon we wonder if we are even on the path that God has planned for our lives. 

I’m sure Joseph felt that. At a very early age, he knew that he would rule over his brothers. He knew they would one day bow down to him. I wonder if Joseph started making a plan of how he would get there. What kind of education would he need? What connections would he need to make with powerful and influential people? How does a young man go about becoming a ruler? Perhaps Joseph had been mulling over a plan when suddenly he experienced a left turn.

How about this, Joe? How about getting thrown into a pit, sold into slavery, lied about, thrown into jail, interpreting dreams, being forgotten and finally rising to power and becoming second in command in a foreign country? Um, nope. Don’t think that was written in Jospeh’s little planner with the Bible verse on the front of it.

But it was always in God’s plan. We make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps. God will get us from point A to point B, but not always the way we envisioned we would get there.

Joseph never planned the steps it took to fulfill God’s call on his life, but every step of the journey made him better equipped for the task ahead. Maybe you feel like your life has taken a serious detour from the plans you made, but don’t lose heart. God is determining your steps.