There is constant road construction on the drive between my house and my office. Just when I celebrate the completion of one area or street, the construction moves to another nearby neighborhood for the next six months!
Each time the construction moves to a new site, roadblocks and detour signs are immediately set up. They are there for our safety—to protect the drivers and the construction workers—and to ensure continued progress in the work zone.
Similarly, God places divine “roadblocks” in certain areas of our lives at certain times. They are not there to harm or purposely frustrate us. They are not hard to miss. Like the detour in a construction zone, they are there to protect us from something off-limits and to allow vital work to be done.
Through these divine roadblocks, God says, “Please go a different way for now. Follow the detour signs I have set up very clearly along the way. For the time being, this particular road is not your path.”
We are not always told the “why” behind a divine roadblock. And too often, when we don’t know the why, we tend to bypass the roadblock because it just doesn’t make sense to us. Thinking we know best, we walk right around it, straight onto the path laden with warning signs. Initially, we may think, “This isn’t so bad after all. I have no idea why this road was even blocked off!” We may believe the quickest way from point A to point B is going right through the warning signs.
But that is never the quickest way.
The road is filled with pain, time delays, and unnecessary suffering.
I have had enough divine detours in my life to know how the story ends. I know the pain of bypassing the roadblocks. I have experienced the delay of God’s promises by going down a road filled with potholes and hot tar.
If you find yourself standing at a divine roadblock, stop trying to move or push whatever is in your way. Resist the temptation to manipulate the situation by ignoring the detour signs. Remember that God has an eagle’s eye view and can see far beyond what you can see from our limited vantage point. If He wants to clarify why there is a roadblock for now, He will. Until then, He is providing a detour to protect you from living through an unnecessary experience and lead you to the next plan He has for you.
