[Steve Myers] Have you experienced one of life's detours? You're expecting to go a certain way, and then an illness came? Perhaps, a difficulty in a job loss. Maybe it was something unexpected that came about that you had to begin to deal with. Maybe it was just a failure or maybe this plan just didn't work out the way I thought. Well, in life's detours, we never wanna forget that God still is with us. In fact, God leads us and He works in the detour. Well, how does He do that? Well, He does it in a number of ways. One of the interesting things about how God leads in detours is when we think about His loving guidance. God guides us in a loving way, even though we're on an unexpected path. If we look at the story of the Israelites coming out of Egypt, we can see that really live in their story. Exodus 15:13 says this, "In your unfailing love, you will lead the people you've redeemed. In your strength, you will guide them to your holy dwelling." Of course, for them, God was leading them to the promised land, ultimately. How was He gonna do it? He was gonna do it in a loving way. Well, for us, He's leading us to the kingdom of God, to His spiritual family. How is He going to do that? Well, even though it might seem like a roundabout path, even though I have to experience some challenges along the way, I still have to recognize God's hand in the journey.

He's lovingly guiding. Through His mercy, He's leading us. In fact, one of the Proverbs is a good reminder of that very thing. Proverbs 16:9 is a great reminder of that very fact that when it seems we're on a different unexpected path, God's still there. And Proverbs says this, "In his heart, a man plans his course." So this is the way I'm going. It shouldn't be any hitches along the way. But as we know how life is, sometimes it's a different path. Well, God's still there. So the Proverbs then say, "God orders His footsteps." So even though they may be on a different little path than we initially thought, we can always count on the fact God's there, and He's lovingly guiding us. So when we're on a detour in life, and God's allowed that detour, we can count on the fact He's never going to desert us. God's always going to be there.

So no matter what... We can look to that example of the Israelites, God never gave up on them. He always worked with them. He led them, even through that roundabout wilderness until they finally did make it to the promised land. So count on God. Even in the detour, He lovingly guides us.

That's BT Daily. We'll see you next time.