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Have you ever heard the phrase: “You can’t get there from here … you have to go somewhere else to start.”?
Jonah 1 NKJV
1 ¶ Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
2 "Arise, go to
3 But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.
Many of you know the story of Jonah. How that he purposefully strayed from the will and path of God for his life. How that God caused a storm to rise on the
After three days in the belly of the fish Jonah repented and prayed to God for forgiveness. When God caused the fish to spit Jonah up on dry ground, Jonah once again heard the voice of God to go to
Jonah 3
1 ¶ Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying,
2 "Arise, go to
3 So Jonah arose and went to
Finding himself on dry ground once again, Jonah obeyed God, started his journey, reached his destination and ultimately fulfilled God’s will.
It is fairly certain that he was not where he was when God first spoke to him and he didn’t waste time trying to get back there. Without hesitation he, no doubt, went straight to Nineveh right from where he landed on dry ground.
Recently Brenda mentioned to a friend that I was considering selling my pickup. That afternoon the friend came over to our house and looked at it, took it for a test drive to show their family and later that evening bought the pickup.
Well, with the sell of my pickup truck, my personal vehicle that I used on a daily basis to go to work and back, run my errands and keep mobile as I must for various reasons, came an opportunity. This opportunity was not the opportunity one might expect as a result of Brenda selling my vehicle.
You see, with the sell of my vehicle came the opportunity for Brenda to get herself a new vehicle and pass her vehicle down to me. It turns out that she already had her new vehicle picked out, right down to the color and options. So, without further meaningful discussion, we bought Brenda a new car.
This particular car came standard with a GPS guided street map. It is amazing and I highly recommend it for directionally challenged people. Just put in the address and away you go … it speaks to you and tells where to turn, when to turn and if you miss a turn … it’s great.
I have the nature of liking to know the limitations of things I depend on, especially the things I need to depend on for the safety of my family. So I put this little map to the ‘what happens if I mess up really bad test’.
There are three things a person must know in order to get where they want to go. First, of course, one must actually have a desired and definable destination, you have got to know where you are going and next, one must also know the point from where they are starting.
Invariably on journeys of any distance or difficulty, one runs into detours along the way. Sometimes they are anticipated detours and sometimes we find that we have inadvertently detoured without knowing how or where we made our departure from the shortest or quickest route.
One of the test I put Brenda’s little map through involved putting a known address into the system and then purposefully making wrong turn after wrong turn, continuing in an opposite direction beyond every warning and instruction to turn here and there.
After I thought I would have completely frustrated even the most patient technology, this little map just kept on trying it’s best to correct my course by offering me the most efficient route to my desired destination. It just kept on refreshing the course and offering me a new best route from where ever I was.
I was impressed and satisfied that even if Brenda messed up going somewhere she was unfamiliar with or had not been before, that it would not frustrate her trying to get her back onto her original route but would chart a new course for her to get her to her desired destination with every detour she encountered no matter how far off the original route she went.
A bit earlier I told you that there were three things one needed to know in order to insure a successful journey. So far I have only given you two of those points. We must:
1. Know where we are.
2. Know where we are going.
3. Know how to refresh our course along the way.
Knowing how to get where we are going from where we originally started may not be as useful today as knowing how to get where we are going from where we have currently gotten ourselves.
We don’t have to go back to the beginning to start.
We must also be ready for a new word from God.
In Genesis 22:2 Abraham was told by God to sacrifice Isaac. Just 3 days and 10 verses later in Genesis 22:12 Abraham is told not to sacrifice Isaac. Which one was right? Which one was the word of God? Both of them were.
We must always be ready to hear a new word from God.
Everyday the circumstances and situations of life are subject to change and with each decision we make and every step we take the route to destiny, not destiny itself, but the route to destiny can be altered somewhat.
Yesterday’s best route may not be today’s best route and at times even our ultimate destination may change.
Maybe we need to focus more on getting where we are going rather than trying to get back to where we were.
How do we find the best route to our greatest day and refresh our course? Simple …
Just draw a line from where you are right now straight to God’s will.
You can find His will written on the pages of His Holy Word, the Bible.
The Psalmist David, a person who missed God and messed up several times wrote:
“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Psalms 119:105 (KJV)
Find the path for yourself by looking into God’s word.
And remember, always be ready for a new word from heaven.
