Circular route

[AI translation] The people of the Old Testament, according to the Bible passage just read, have reached one of the most significant stages in their varied history: the time of the so-called wilderness wanderings is about to begin. Immediately behind it lies a wonderful and glorious experience: the grace of deliverance from Egypt - and before it a great undertaking, a difficult yet hopeful future: the journey to the promised land! Centuries of longings and prayers are being fulfilled: here they are, on their way to conquer their ancestral heritage, the land of their fathers, to build a new, new, happy, free life. Oh, how they would hurry, if only they could be there as soon as possible, so that the old dream, the great promise, could become reality: to be at home, in their own country, to settle down to a new life! The long caravan, old and young, carts, wagons, animals - with all the belongings of a whole people - is moving on, intoxicated with joy, between hope and anxiety, wondering what the future will bring! The long procession snakes through the desert sands. "And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could go by day and by night. " (Exodus 13:21) Some explain this phenomenon by the fact that at the head of the long procession they carried large bundles of fire, whose light by night and smoke by day were raised high into the sky, so that those at the end of the procession could see the direction they were going, not to get lost or scattered in the wilderness! No matter how we explain this pillar of fire and pillar of cloud, whether it was produced by natural means or by a miraculous phenomenon, the point is that the Holy Spirit of God used it to guide His people personally, as it were, to show them the direction, in the way that was most understandable to God in that situation, there in the wilderness.There were two ways to get from Egypt to Canaan, the Promised Land: a shorter, more direct route, and a longer, more circuitous one. Those in a hurry chose the shorter route. But God's ways are often different from man's ways. And here, after the heady joy of deliverance from Egypt, comes the first disappointment for the people. Here is what we read, "And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had sent the people away, that God led them not into the land of the Philistines, though it was near: for God said, 'Perhaps the people will think otherwise when they see battle, and return to Egypt. So God led the people by the way of the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea; and the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt armed." (Exodus 13:17-18) So God chose a roundabout way for the people.
I can only imagine how heavy-hearted that people were to know it then! For they did not think so! It is always with an anxious heart that one is disappointed when God takes a detour. But when God leads in this way, it is never a bad thing! There are, of course, other kinds of detours, those which man does not take under God's guidance, but because he has lost this guidance from above, because he has been led astray by his sins, led astray by temptation. In such a roundabout way, man always gets into trouble, gets lost, becomes lazy, weary, a beggar! There are also such a roundabout way, the way our desires lead us, the way our sins lead us, the way our sins lead us. And this is never wrong, never hopeless, however difficult - never discouraging, except to the faint-hearted. God's way is always the right way, even if it doesn't lead where we want it to, even if it seems like a long detour! And even if we see that God is not leading His people along the shortest and smoothest way to the Promised Land, we can be sure that He is leading them along the best way, and that will be clear when we reach the end of our journey! Those who believe in God's guidance, in the Lord who shapes history and in the power of His might: can accept this detour in a different way than those who do not believe: in a different way, that is, trustingly, humbly, under hope! For all is good that God does and that we do with God! Only what we do not do with Him is not good!
Oh, how many times Moses had to reassure the discouraged people when they saw that their path was not going in the direction they wanted to go! How many there must have been who thought this detour pointless, who complained, who rebelled, "Not this way, Lord! But this way!" - who were impatient, "What will we do, where will we go, will we never reach our destination? How many times Moses pointed to the pillar of smoke and the fiery light of the fire, when the horrors of the desert night haunted and shook the hearts! How often could he say: Fear not, for it is not I, nor man, who lead, but the Lord! Fear not, if we go with Him, our way will be a victorious march even in the desert, with God on our side, no power can hinder us from reaching the land of Canaan one day! Yes, Brethren, let not our sins lead us astray, let not our disobedience and unbelief lead us astray! Fear not, the detour led by God is not astray, not a maze, not a dead end! Believe in God, in His almighty power, in His compassionate love! Yes, this is how Moses could comfort the despondent, worried people!
Of course, even so, the eternal question arises in their souls, why? Why did the chosen people have to take this longer, harder, more circuitous route, and why could they not continue on the short and straight road? Oh, there is a very good reason for this tiresome detour. Looking back at the history of the Old Testament people as we know it, there were two reasons why this detour was necessary. One is that God wanted to draw this people more closely to Himself. Before they could enter the Promised Land, they first had to settle their affairs with God. The covenant that God had made with the ancestors, He now wants to renew and seal in the wilderness solitude with the whole people. God wants His people to be truly and fully His people. And I believe that this is the meaning, this is the primary purpose of every detour led by God ever since: God confronts Himself! He stops you in your tracks, as if to say: Wait, let us first clarify certain fundamental questions with each other! Do you really accept, to the death, that you are my people? Yes: this detour is to lead us all, individually and collectively as a Church, once again to the mountain of the new covenant, to Calvary, to present once again the eternal seal of His covenant and grace with us: Jesus Christ, to tell us once again what He has done for our salvation, to open once again His arms as our Father and to hold us once again to His heart as His precious, redeemed possession.
Look at how we write our name in ink on a book or a notebook that we bought with money, as a sign that this book, this notebook, is my property - God also writes His name on our lives, but not in ink, but in the blood of Jesus Christ, and He sealed it with a visible sign, the water of the cross, in those days long ago. It is on you, it is on us, the name of Christ, that we are Christians, that we are Christed, that we belong to Christ, that we are the redeemed people of God! And the Lord will walk the circuitous paths in the wilderness until we repent wholeheartedly that this holy name on our lives has been faded, erased, blurred, tarnished; until we repent that we have mocked this holy name, desecrated it by our conduct, by our words. Until, in the tears of our repentance, this holy name is cleansed again, shines again upon us; until the fact that we are Christians, that is, Christed, that we are God's redeemed people, becomes true, authentic, convincing again!
You see, this is the way round! And if we are not renewed in our faith, if we are not cleansed in the blood of Christ, if we do not rededicate ourselves to God in a new and more righteous way: then the detour is indeed a vain, meaningless suffering! It is from the depths that a people learns to truly cry out to God for renewal, for a new reformation. And the Church that can already pray for this with a truly longing heart is already a renewed Church! Would that our Lord would not walk in vain the roundabout way with us, with our people!
So, on the one hand, the detour is necessary because God wants to draw His people more closely to Himself. On the other hand, the detour is also necessary because it brings the people themselves into closer unity. Where better than in the wilderness can a people, a house that is by nature a "house of one party", experience a true sense of fellowship? There they are truly interdependent. There they have no time to quarrel with one another, there the differences between rich and poor, educated and simple, intellectuals and workers and peasants disappear, there old and young, small and great are all in the wilderness, living or dying together, truly in a community of destiny. Here they have to bow together under God's hand of punishment or blessing, here they learn together how God cares for them in their time of need, how God delivers them in times of peril, how great God is, what their Lord knows, who God is! Oh, how precious are the experiences of this wilderness detour! Now, here in the wilderness, the people who are destined to begin a new life in the land of Canaan are being formed, are being brought together, are being united in spirit! Though it may be difficult and painful at times, let no one be torn from among them! Do not leave the community of destiny, do not run away to Egypt or Arabia, do not run away from the procession because it will be better elsewhere! A great martyred German theologian, Bonhoeffer, said, "If God's people turn away from the path of suffering, they deprive themselves of God's most precious gifts!" Oh, how many times Moses cried out to a despondent people, "People, do not be afraid, the Lord has not forgotten you, for you are His own, He loves you, that is why He is preparing you, that is why He is training you for the life to come! You have already come out of Egypt, and you are going to Canaan, even if by a detour!"
But what is the guarantee that you will get there? That they will not get lost, that they will not be lost in the great desolate wilderness? Well: the cloud and pillar of fire that goes before them! God knows well that they have a weary and perilous way before them, with serpents and scorpions, snares and difficulties, drought and barrenness. But in all this toil and peril, the living God Himself has become their companion, and has gone before them!
And He is ready to do this miracle for His people today! Instead of the cloud and the pillar of fire, today the Lord gives us even clearer, clearer guidance in His Word and in His Holy Spirit. In His Word, illuminated by His Holy Spirit, God becomes our companion as if He were holding our hands, as if He were guiding our thoughts, as if He were permeating our speech - not "as if", but in a very real and real way! If ever, now is the time to take His Word especially seriously in our individual silence, in our family life, in our Church! Now, too, we must especially learn to listen to the Word, to walk boldly according to the guidance of the Word, to live the Word! Now the Bible is not a pious passion, not a spiritual pleasure, but a necessity of life, because without it we will irredeemably get lost and scattered in the wilderness! There is only one thing for the people of God to do: to walk strictly according to the guidance of the Word, to follow closely the Christ who speaks in the Word, individually and together. For our part, this is the only condition for arriving, however detoured, at the detour! Let us take every step with the sincere intention expressed in this hymn:
Just lead me, Lord, all the way, and take my hand,
Till I reach my destination happy,
For without you my strength is so little,
But where you go before me, there is no fear.
(Canto 462, verse 1)
Amen
Date: 20 January 1957.