“Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention.” Matthew 7:13-14 (The Message)

Isn’t There Another Way?

Over the years we’ve lived in various places where there’s lots of traffic—especially at certain times of the day. One of the things I enjoyed doing was finding shortcuts to get where I was going. It was a fun adventure, often taking me along streets I’d never driven before or into neighborhoods where I’d never been. I loved exploring and finding the shortcuts.

I’ve also liked to find shortcuts to household chores too. Anything that could help me save time and energy was great. I would look for articles that gave me tips, and find products that allowed me to work more quickly and efficiently.

And I’ve always been a bargain hunter. I love finding ways to save money—sales, coupons, two-for-one offers. One year I even kept track of all the money I was able to save. “Shortcuts” to spending was a challenging adventure for me.

But when it comes to the trials of life—the sufferings that God allows to come our way—there are no shortcuts! God doesn’t take us on an easy path. He takes us on the best, most effective path! He’ll often take us on a circuitous journey to get us to our destination in order to prepare us for what we’ll face when we get there. He doesn’t waste one second of the journey!

Lessons that take months in my life I would love to learn in days or weeks. I often wish I could speed up the process. I don’t want to go through the wilderness!  I want to hurry up. But God’s view of time and our view is so different. He looks at it from the view of eternity—preparing us to spend forever with Him.

We live in a culture of instant gratification. We want painless, short, easy lessons to the goals we’re reaching for. God’s ways are different. He wants to see us develop spiritual maturity along the way, not just succeed at our dreams and goals. The Bible is filled with examples of men and women who had to be patient to see things fulfilled in their lives.

If we ignore what He’s teaching us or move on too quickly, in His goodness and faithfulness He’ll bring the lesson back around. He doesn’t allow us to ignore or escape from what He’s teaching us. He wants to produce character in our lives. He wants us to become more like Him, so He’ll keep working in our lives until we learn what He’s saying to us. He’s always been patient with me when I struggle to learn a lesson He has for me.

So when I’m wishing there was a shortcut to trials—to the lessons He is allowing me to walk through—I remember that I need to just keep going one day at a time. I need to not worry about the future. I need to keep holding His hand, and keep my eyes on Him. I need to receive His grace to persevere. I need to keep my heart trusting Him, even speaking out that trust. I need to worship Him for His love and mercy to me.

“Father, we so often wish for a shortcut on our journey. We don’t know how long it will take. We don’t know what bumps are on the road ahead. But we want to learn whatever You have for us on this journey. You are completely trustworthy, so we know You have good lessons in store for us.”