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The Long Road: God Promises His Presence · The God Who Sees You Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: We're not going to always understand why God allowed the pain, but we can see what he brings from it.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: We can see what he's trying to teach us on this long road.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, friend, and welcome back to the podcast.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: We are on our last episode of the Long Road series.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: I've really loved doing this series with you.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like there's been so many awesome lessons throughout God's Word of how He took us on the long road and how He didn't take us through the quick option, right?
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: But he took us through the longer, more scenic route.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: There's beauty there, there are so many lessons there.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: And God teaches us things along the way.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Today's big idea is that the long road with God is better than the short road without him.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: And this is something I just never want us to forget that no matter how long the road is, or no matter how much we're hearing no to our prayers, or we're waiting for something, we're waiting for a promise, it's still better to wait with him than to be without him.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I think about just how hard it can be to just live this Christian life and how how much we're berated by the enemy or how many things come at us and how it's hard to stand up for our faith.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: But then I think about how dark the world would be without him.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I think about how going on a long road without him would be terrifying.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: But we are promised his presence.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: We are promised that he is always with us and always by our side.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: And that makes the long road so much better, doesn't it?
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Just knowing that he's with us.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: I think about, you know, if we didn't have the hope of Jesus, it would be so much more difficult to go through this road.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: And it would be difficult to just have hope in our life and what we're doing and how God is leading us.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: We have such a deep hope because of him.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: One of the ultimate long road stories exists in the book of Exodus.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: And this is where the Israelites are called to wander through the wilderness.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: And we see from the very beginning that God actually decided to take them on this long road.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: In Exodus 13, 17 through 18, it says, When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: For God said if they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: God didn't want them to go back into slavery.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: The Israelites went up out of Egypt, ready for battle.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Can you see the specific choice here made by God to take the longer road?
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I have to wonder, you know, like what was going on in his mind to lead him to that decision?
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: We can't fully understand the mind of God, but but there's something here we get a little clue that God knows what would happen if he took them on the shorter road.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: He knows that they would turn back and go to Egypt.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: And aren't we similar, right?
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: If he would take us on that shorter road and give us a quick answer to prayer, maybe we would return right back to the sin.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe we would go right back to the thing that was hurting us.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: So he takes us on this longer road where we realize, oh, God, I need you.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I was doing things wrong, and I don't want to go back to that.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to go back to the things that were hurting me.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: And instead of really looking at this and asking, you know, why would God do that?
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Why would he do that to the Israelites?
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: I want to challenge you to ask, what did he want them to learn along the way?
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: What did he want to show them along the way?
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's okay to ask the question why.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: I do it all the time.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: I ask God why all the time.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: But once we get past our whys, we start seeing real purpose coming out of the pain.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: We're not going to always understand why God allowed the pain, but we can see what he brings from it.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: We can see what he's trying to teach us on this long road.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Let's not let our wilderness wandering be wasted.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: And one way to not waste it is to simply ask him what he's teaching us in the middle of this wilderness?
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: What is he showing us in the middle of this?
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: After the Israelites made it out of the Red Sea and God caused the Egyptians to be swallowed up, Moses sings this beautiful song of deliverance.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's in Exodus 15.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm just going to read a little bit for you, verses 11 through 13.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Who among the gods is like you, Lord?
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: You stretched out your right hand and the earth swallows your enemies.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: In your unfailing love, you will lead the people you have redeemed.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: In your strength, you will guide them to your holy dwelling.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: What do you see about God's character as I read that?
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: What stands out to you about him?
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm seeing his deliverance and his holiness.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm seeing Moses' appreciation for who God is in the midst, right?
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Of now they're in the wilderness, but here is Moses just singing a song of deliverance.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, My God did it.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: My God did it.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: They still have a long way to go.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: They are still on the long road as they wander through the wilderness.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: But Moses sees the heart of God here.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: He sees the character of God.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't want you to miss the character of God in the middle of your long road.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: So what's helpful is to stop asking why and to start asking, Lord, what are you teaching me?
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: What do you want me to see in this?
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: What can I learn about you on this long road?
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: What can I learn about myself?
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: He's always showing us things.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: He's always teaching us.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: So let's remember on that long road that we can always take the path to learn more about his character and we can see him for who he is and we can draw lessons out of that.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: We just have to invite him and invite his spirit.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Let me pray for us, friends.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, we thank you for this series that we did on the long road together.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: I just thank you for all the lessons you taught me along the way.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: God, I can think of so many times where I wanted that quick, fast, easy answer.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted a miracle or for you to just come through.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes you said no, and it was hard.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: But in that, I learned your character and I learned that you were showing me something about yourself and you were teaching me.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: And you didn't want me to go back to the old sins or the old ways.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: And you just wanted me to move forward in faith and to say, I'm never going back there.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I just pray for the sweet friend that is listening on the other end of this, Lord, that you would minister to them as they are walking their own long road, that you would show them, God, what lessons are there.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: And we just thank you for your presence because doing this long road with you is so much better than taking the short road without you.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, God, for everything you showed us in your name.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: All right, friends, if you want to go a little deeper in the study I did create a deeper study, I'll put the link to that below.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining me with this.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: I can't wait to see you next week.