Roadblocks

I Samuel 30:1-18

You can see God so clearly. You know His will for your life and are obediently traveling in that direction. Small potholes may occur, but you take their gentle bumps and keep rolling on. In front of you is the vast expanse of the promises of God. His presence is so real, and His voice is crystal clear, your heart breaks out in song. As you follow God life is one grand and glorious adventure.

But in a moment, it all changes. One event or chain of events causes everything to come to a heart shattering, screeching halt. The sky grows dark, the thunder rolls, the only light is the bright flashing hazards reflecting off the sign “road blocked” . It can be the parent who walks out, leaving more questions than answers.  The crushing loss of a friend who dies unexpectantly and leaves a silence in life. It can be a call from the doctor “we need to discuss something we found in your test”.  You maybe packed for college when a parent loses their job, and there is no way to go.

The hardest part of a roadblock is that in the darkness you loose sight of God. His voice is drowned out by the  blaring sirens. Your mind races trying to calculate how to clear the path. And through your tears, you ask “Why?”. “What do I do now?”.  “I was following you.”. “Where are you God?”

David and his men had been faithfully following God on a path that would ultimately lead to David becoming king.  After a three-day journey David and his men were happy to be returning to their families in Ziklag.  Can you imagine the crushing blow, when they came over the rise, to see that the Amalekites had invaded and burned down Ziklag? Oh, the horror as each man raced to the ruins to see if there was anyone left alive.  “ Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep.” As they sifted through the rubble it became evident that there was no human remains, their wives and children had been taken captive by the barbaric Amalekites. ”.  Among the captives were David’s two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. “And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters”. Faithfully following God and David hits a roadblock; his family has been captured and his heart-broken men want to stone David.  BUT “David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.”. Even in the darkest of times, when we don’t understand God’s purpose or plan, when there are more questions than answers; rest assured God is there, and He is still working. Roadblocks in our lives force us to stop and remember the architect of our path. It is there in the darkness we can rejoice to  find Him.

David and his men were filled with an urgency to rescue their families from the cruel and ruthless Amalekites. But in wisdom we see David “enquire” of the Lord, “saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them?”.  When you hit a roadblock, you may scramble to “fix” everything. But it is in the times when all our resources are depleted, we find His Word brings comfort and direction. As the sirens in your life blare, you can still hear His voice.

God told David to go and retrieve his family.  Not all his men followed David, but David faithfully followed God. David had no clue where the nomad Amalekites might have gone, or how to find them, but he listened to God.  The Bible is our GPS when our soul is crushed, and we don’t understand the why’s and where of life. Within its pages are words of wisdom, comfort, direction and hope. Healing and purpose come through the tears we shed, as God’s love soothes our soul.

As you stare past the steering wheel, at the immovable roadblock in your life, remember the God of the God who moves mountains. The answer may not be the one you want, but God is working through it all. You may never know the purpose of your roadblock, but it can grow your faith. And sometimes God uses our roadblock to show  the world,  what the All-Powerful God of the Universe can do.

In this instance of David’s life, God chooses to leave us a clear picture of a roadblock blown all to pieces, by God’s Almighty hand.  “ And they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he did eat; and they made him drink water; And they gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins: and when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him: for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights.” This event allows us to see David’s character.  While frantically trying to find the Amalekites, David takes time to feed and care for an Egyptian slave. The young man had become sick, and his Amalekite master left him to die.  The young man tells David he can take him to find the Amalekites, if David will not kill him or give him back to his master. David agrees.  The servant then leads David where he finds the Amalekites dancing, eating and drinking, in celebration of all they had stolen from the land of the Philistines, and the land of Judah. “And David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day: and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men, which rode upon camels, and fled. And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away: and David rescued his two wives.”

The servant was a man whom God had placed in David’s path at just the right time and place. Think about how often God places the unlikely and unexpected people and events in our path to encourage and direct our hearts. Sometimes roadblocks are places where we become eyewitnesses to the amazing working of the God of the Universe.

Today , if a roadblock has you left you longing for the voice and hand of God in your life, sit still and know in the darkness, God is there, and he never stopped working in your life.