When God Leads You Down a Dead End Road

Like most guys, I watch a lot of action movies with muscular stars.  I loved it in The Bourne Supremacy when Matt Damon took on a knife-wielding assailant with a hand towel… and won.  I ignore the part about Jason Bourne being a tragic and damaged figure, of course, and focus just on his seeming invincibility, the way he’s more or less untouchable – even by super-secret government funded assassins.

Now whether you’re with me on this or not, we all do this.  We all want to be strong, independent.  Our heroes are never weak, never dependent.

This thinking is especially revealing when it comes to our theology.  Despite all this talk about grace, at the end of the day, we all still kind of think it’s up to us.   I need to work harder, behave better, evangelize more persuasively.  The “giants of the faith” were the spiritual high achievers, weren’t they?  And I need to pull myself up by my bootstraps like they did…right?

That’s not the biblical story at all.  Throughout the Bible, we see a very different set of priorities.  From Genesis to Revelation, God seems most interested – in fact, almost to the exclusion of everyone else – in the weak.  Jesus told the Pharisees, “it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick” (Luke 5:31).  He preached “Blessed are the poor in spirit” – literally, the “spiritual failures” – for they will see God.  The chosen people of God?  Kings and rich guys, right?  No, they were smelly shepherds, slaves to prosperous Egypt until God delivered them.  The message of virtually every book in the “Prophets” section?  Condemnation on the rich and powerful for taking advantage of the poor and weak.

God thrives on helping the helpless, on defending the cause of the weak.

In Exodus 13-14, we see exactly this.  There were several ways to get from Egypt to the Promised Land.  The main road led along the coast, through what is now the Gaza Strip, and is a pretty short trip.  God did not take them on that road (Exodus 13:17).  Instead, He led them southeast, and backed them up against the Red Sea.  This was not a great place to camp, militarily speaking, and Pharaoh saw his chance to reclaim his lost workforce.

Understandably, when the Israelites recognize Moses has put them in a pretty vulnerable spot, they’re not pleased.  They’ve got the ocean to their backs, and the most powerful army in the known world bearing down on them.  And it’s not until that moment when God decides to step in.

The movie, “Prince of Egypt” captures this scene perfectly (see video).  Notice that it’s not Moses who delivers Israel.  It’s not through a victorious battle, where Israel fights their way free.  When His people are most vulnerable and all hope seems lost, that’s when God steps in and fights for His people.

I notice two things in this:

1. God takes Moses – the rich and successful (and clean) Prince of Egypt – and drives him into the desert to take care of his father-in-law’s dirty, smelly sheep for 40 years.  Then God decides Moses is ready.
2. God leads Israel – loaded with flocks and treasure plundered from the Egyptians – into a strategically-vulnerable place to wait for the Egyptian army.  Then the Israelites are ready for Him to deliver them.

Why do you think God does it this way?  I’m sure He’s got more than one reason, but one seems pretty obvious to me.  If humanity’s natural inclination is to exalt the strong at the expense of the weak, to focus on what I can do and have done, then there’s no room for God.  If I constantly focus on what I have done for God instead of what He has done for me, then it’s not until I’m truly backed into a corner and have no other options that I’m finally ready for Him to save me.  As Paul puts it,

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
(2 Cor 12:9-10)

God saves us because we can’t save ourselves.  We have no strength except for the power that comes from Him. This should be obvious (i.e. “which is stronger: my pitiful efforts or a giant pillar of fire?”), but – like Israel – we just don’t seem to get it.

Do you – do I? – really trust Him enough to be vulnerable, to be weak?  Maybe more to the point: when you’ve been faithful to God and followed where He’s lead you, and it’s ended up at a dead end, don’t be discouraged.  At times like that, you may be exactly where He wants you to be.  

Some questions:

1. In what ways do you “exalt” the strong, the rich, the successful, the popular or powerful people in your life?
2. Who around you is weak?  How can you defend them?  How can you help them?
3. Why would God purposely lead us into blind alleys, dead-ends and hopeless situations?
4. Are you currently in one of those dead-ends?  Are you trying to get yourself out on your own strength?
5. In what ways are you still trying to save yourself, instead of admitting your weakness and instead trusting in God’s grace?  Why is this so hard?