The Long Way

“He is working ALL things for the good of His purpose. We may not see it yet, but it is on the horizon. Nothing, not even our wandering, is wasted in the hands of our God.”

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28 ESV)

I stand here looking back—back into the distant past and back into the near past. And I have these thoughts about certain times in my life: 

God, why did You take me through that?

Wow, what a waste. 

What a senseless and pointless decision.

I just can’t see why in the world You allowed that. I can’t understand.

I am writing this in the midst of it. Right now, something in my life feels wasted. Maybe you also look back and feel that way about some situations in your life. Maybe it concerns a bad decision you made, and you just can’t let it go. Maybe it is a diagnosis you never saw coming. Maybe it is about a difficult situation or loss, and you just don’t understand why God allowed it. 

These thoughts go against everything I know and believe in my heart about the Lord. I know that God is the Author of all things. I know that He has a purpose in all things. But can I be transparent? Sometimes I struggle to understand why. Sometimes I feel disappointed in His way. Sometimes I think I know better.

I imagine as the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for forty years that many of them (maybe all of them) wondered why God was bringing them further and further away from the destination—from the Promised Land. When they left Egypt on foot, did they think Canaan was only days away? Did the long days and nights feel wasted? Did they wonder year after year why God led them here? Did they feel disappointed in His way? Did they long to see the outcome? Of course, they did. It was a period of waiting—a long pause. But it wasn’t wasted. It wasn’t pointless. The wandering was due mostly to their unfaithfulness to the Lord, but it still had a purpose. It was for their good.

When the Israelites left the oppression of Egypt, they carried Egypt with them—inside of them. They carried belongings; they carried customs and ideals; they carried baggage. They witnessed God perform miraculous wonders in their exodus. He literally parted a sea for them to walk safely away from Egyptian bondage which chased them on foot! They were later delivered from hunger and thirst in the forms of manna from heaven and water from a rock. But they still questioned His way. They still complained that it wasn’t what they imagined when they left Egypt, when they left slavery. They felt that maybe the bondage of Egypt might even be better than this wandering, this vulnerability in the wilderness. They struggled with His way.

God had a reason for the long way. He needed to remove Egypt from their hearts. It wasn’t enough for God to get His people out of Egypt; He had to get Egypt out of His people. The people needed refining before stepping foot in Canaan. They couldn’t carry Egypt into the Promised Land. And we can’t either. Their wandering had a purpose. And as painful and pointless as it felt, God was using it for their good.

I love Romans 8:28. It is one of the verses we so often see people share as encouragement in difficulty, but it is sometimes misconstrued. Here is what God intended for us to know: God works all things for our good—even our mistakes, even our heartache, even our worst moments. Praise the Lord! But it doesn’t always come in the form of earthly comfort. It definitely didn’t for the Israelites. Good does not always mean easy. Good does not always mean we get what we want. Sometimes the good leaves us feeling momentarily disappointed, especially when our hearts are fixated on our own plans. More often, good comes in the form of our refining, of drawing us closer to God’s heart, of teaching us more about who He is and how much we need Him. It comes in the form of helping us to bear spiritual fruit, of making us more like Him. Of getting Egypt out of us.

Right now, I can’t quite see the fruit of a certain situation. Maybe you can’t either. But I know it’s there, deep below the dirt. I know the Lord is cultivating it. In this season of my waiting (and in your seasons of waiting, regret, or doubt), God is cultivating us. He is working ALL things for the good of His purpose. We may not see it yet, but it is on the horizon. Nothing, not even our wandering, is wasted in the hands of our God. 

I don’t want to wait until I see Canaan to trust His goodness. I want to see Him here, now in the waiting. I am going to hand Him my way and my plans. I am going to leave them in His hands. His way is better.