P.O. Box 53055    
Los Angeles, CA 90053   

WHO SENT THAT NORTHRIDGE EARTHQUAKE?

There was a delightful missionary story making the rounds last summer at some of the "old-fashioned camp meeting" appointments our staff members take each year. And it's exciting that our kids, our Christian young people are still going out as missionaries. But this one young woman was out in the absolute nether regions of some remote country 12 times zones away from Mom and Dad.

On this particular excursion, these two girls left the centralized base operation and the rest of their team and hiked a couple of hours even deeper into the woods to a very tiny village. They were going to stay there for several days at this outpost, living right with the villagers, and establishing a friendship with them. No e-mail, no phones, no nothing. Believe me, this was a long ways away from the comforts of their North American homes. And they were also missing their North American plumbing. Because this young girl, late one evening, had to make a visit to the very primitive restroom facilities that were provided in this remote village. Essentially, it was nothing but a couple of slippery poles suspended over a deep ditch. But, being very dark out there, at least things were kind of private.

Well, to make a sad story short, our young heroine slipped on that pole and fell right into the pool of sewage. She was a mess from head to toe.
She crept back into camp, found her roommate, and tearfully told the story — which I'm sure was a lot more amusing six months later than at the moment. And her friend said, "Well, come on, we'll get you cleaned up." The only trouble was that there was just this tiniest little stream of water trickling in through a long bamboo pipe. That was all the water for the whole village. She stood under it and tried to scrub herself clean, but with this pitiful drip-drip-drip of water, there was no way to accomplish the job.

At last, the second girl, who was along as a nurse, said, "Look, Sarah." (Or whatever her name was.) "Let's just hike back to the main camp. You can get washed up for reals, we'll get some fresh clothes for you, and we'll come right back. We can do it in just a few hours if we move right along."

It seemed so wasteful, so needless, to hike that whole round trip just for a decent shower. What a frustrating detour! But with sanitation already as bad as it was, and with disease everywhere, the two girls decided it was the prudent thing to do. So, still feeling so uncomfortable and grimy from the experience, they hiked all the way back to the main post where the others were.

Well, they arrived in just a couple of hours, in the wee hours, embarrassed over the circumstances and the teasing they were sure to get. Lo and behold, as they arrived, people just lit up in relief. Because some kind of medical emergency had just hit; someone was extremely ill. And here, without anyone calling, into camp walks the only nurse on the team. They'd been worried, and praying, not knowing what to do. There was no way to call or summon medical help. And all at once, unannounced, she walks right in. All because a missionary kid fell into a jungle latrine. And what appeared to be a really dumb detour ends up being divinely providential.

But hold everything. Our topic for the week is this: PRAISING GOD FOR DETOURS. Being content, as the Apostle Paul wrote yesterday, if God sends you the long way home, and sets orange cones in your pathway. And today we want to wonder about this question: Are all detours that come our way actually heaven-sent? The Bible promises us:

"In all thy ways acknowledge Him [the Lord], and He shall direct thy paths."

But does this include the flat tires of life, the delayed plane trips, the frustrating detours where someone else gets your promotion and your corner office while you wait with Dilbert in a leftover cubicle?

The Old Testament story of Joseph has been a helpful theme illustration all week long, because if there was ever a hero who survived detours, Joseph was that man. Three times — in Genesis 37, then in 39, then again in chapter 40 — he had to just wait and wait and wait for a God who certainly seemed to be off on vacation somewhere. His brothers sell him out; his new boss's wife tries to seduce him and then has him wrongfully thrown into prison. Last but not least, he loses an additional two years of life, still in prison, simply because a man who promised to do him a favor just plain forgot. Here's a total of thirteen years of prime-time living down the drain, all through no fault of his own.
So let's ask the question. Where did these detours come from? Did God cause them? Did God, for His own good reasons, see that Joseph's ascendency to power needed a 13-year delay?

You know, it certainly could be argued that these three delays worked out for the best. What job does Joseph get in the end? He becomes prime minister of all Egypt! He goes right from a prison cell to the White House; he's abruptly catapulted into the second spot in the kingdom.

‘Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you," is what Pharaoh tells him.

And the timing is really perfect. The seven years of plenty, followed by the seven years of famine, happen right here . . . and Joseph is in the perfect place to make a difference. Unless his brothers had sold him into Egyptian slavery, he wouldn't even have been there. It could also be argued that he learned administrative skills at Potiphar's vast estate; he would never have had the opportunity to hone those abilities back home in Daddy's tent where there was nothing but sand crabs and sheep. Even in prison, it seems, he continued to develop his political abilities, quietly climbing through the ranks in a foreign system, making friends, forging useful alliances. And perhaps those final two years of waiting, languishing, were just the thing to put the finishing touches on his character, the final molding of patience, coolness in coping with frustration and all the rest.

And yet, do we want to say that it was God's plan for Joseph's brothers to sell him as a slave? We have to be seasoned and wise, sometimes, in reading the language of this fascinating book called the Bible. In the Old Testament is a recurring phrase mentioned nine times: "The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart." A plague would land on Egypt, but because "the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart," he wouldn't let the children of Israel go . . . and that's why it took ten plagues before he finally caved in. Well, that sounds like it's all God's fault in the end, but Bible students recognize that this is simply the Bible's way of saying that God granted Pharaoh freedom of choice. And God put these trials and plagues in place. And then Pharaoh, using his own freedom of choice, hardened his own heart. In fact, nine other times it's said exactly that way.

And here in our Joseph story the same question: is God actively working to delay our friend's rise to fame for 13 years? And I believe we need to provide an answer this way: It's never God's will for His children to sin. Never. Was it God's will for Joseph's brothers to discuss murdering him, and then sell him as a slave, and then go home and lie to their father, Jacob? No, that was not God's will. Was it God's divine plan for Mrs. Potiphar to try to seduce him into an immoral relationship, and then falsely charge him with rape? Was it in God's perfect blueprint for this butler to make a solemn promise to Joseph about intervening on his behalf, and then carelessly forget and break that vow? No, that wasn't God's plan either.

So we see two things happening here. Sometimes God does intervene and put a detour in our road. The perfect Bible story is that of Balaam, where an angel came right down, blocked the way, and said: "Stop! You're not going any farther in this wrong direction." Jonah's another case where God directly intervened to change a person's wrong course. The disciples of Jesus were determined to achieve political victories, until Jesus put a stop sign directly in their way.Other times, though, an enemy named Lucifer is the cause of our detours. Or just the generic results of sin, or our frail human choices. We don't study hard in school, and thereby limit our own decisions. In Joseph's case, his problems were caused by wicked brothers, a wicked woman, and a stupid butler. None of this was God's fault.

But friend, here's the beautiful thing. Sometimes God acts to guide our lives. Other times, events or friends or earthquakes or even sin are the agents causing us to go onto a winding dirt path. But in both cases, our wonderful God is right there, either acting or creatively REacting to bring triumph out of tragedy. Lucifer thought he could thwart this whole Joseph saga by inspiring the brothers to wickedness. Then he whispered in Mrs. Potiphar's ear, told her what brand of perfume to wear. Then he got that butler to forget his promise. But time after time after time — in all three cases — God was right there to overcome Satan's plans, and achieve the overall, perfect, unstoppable plan of His own. In fact, in that glorious reunion moment when Joseph identifies himself to his brothers — this is in Genesis 45 — he puts it this way:

"God has turned what you did into a blessing to preserve your lives."

Yes, friend, we serve a God who can't be beat!