Through

Recently I was encouraging a dear friend that I admire her, ‘throughness’, though not perfect in any sense, but she doesn’t shy away or back down from God taking her in the direction He sees fit.  That means no shortcuts – but right smack through the stuff.  It is evident in her life that she takes notes, doesn’t have her head down, but looks at the scenery with the one goal, “What am I to learn here.”

Through.

There are over 450 mentions of ‘through’ in scripture (in various contexts) there are also times around came first.  Like the Hebrews exiting Egypt, when Pharaoh finally released them, “God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter… He lead the people around by the desert to the Red Sea.” (Exodus 13:17-18, emphasis mine)  He knew they were not ready to encounter the Philistines (yet).  This was their first field trip with God, and He didn’t want to freak them out.  So what did He do next? With the Egyptians in hot pursuit, He takes them through the Red Sea.  Can you imagine the wide-eyed look on the faces of God’s people as they walk right down the middle?  The very cool part, God took them through, but their enemies when attempting to follow were destroyed.

Their learning journey had only begun.  Long story short, their goal was Canaan, Egypt to Canaan, the shortest route would have been approximately about 250(ish) miles and could possibly be done in about 11 days.  Eleven days turn 40 years.   God taking them through the wilderness, they learned of God’s character: He provided quail, manna, water, they received the law, built the Tabernacle, and learned sacrificial offering.

As I am meditating on this, I sense God speak to us to be thorough in our throughness, meaning – learn what we can!  To this day, the Jewish people after thousands of years remember the Exodus, the wilderness and celebrate God’s faithfulness.  God has a reason, a reason for around and His goal is to, that to, leads to through.   It is in the through that our enemies are destroyed, in the through there is deliverance, in the through we learn of God’s character.  May we not seek shortcuts, let’s face it folks, we may not be ready for what’s there, in the shortcut.

I am challenged, thorough in my throughness.  Taking notes.

In Him, DeDe (“Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love & good deeds.” – Hebrews 10:24)