Today's Reading: Deuteronomy 2

Deuteronomy 2:3 (ESV) "You have been traveling around this mountain country long enough. Turn northward..."

Sometimes life can feel like every day is the same thing all over again. Messes need to be cleaned up. Fights arise and need to be dealt with. Illnesses and troubles abound. What is the point of it all? Endless demands and relentless responsibilities sometimes make me feel like I am just going in circles that don't make any difference. But God is in my circle with me, so my daily circles achieve more than just survival.

Having traveled through the wilderness (or "circled this mountain," as the NASB translation says in Deuteronomy 2:3) as they perpetually continued the cycle of rebellion, repentance and deliverance, the Israelites were not making much progress in their journey to the promised land that took 40 years. They were getting nowhere fast. Or so it seemed.

Unbelief in God's Word kept the Israelites going around in circles (Deuteronomy 1:32). But as God disciplined them, He was preparing them for the promised land. He was also fulfilling His prophecy: Because of their sin, no adult who began the journey to Canaan would complete it (Numbers 14:30). God was sovereign over their rebellion, and He is sovereign over ours. He taught them how to live as His people before they would receive His inheritance in Canaan.

After they had traveled for 38 years, God gave the Israelites a second chance to enter Canaan and change direction. "You have been traveling around this mountain country long enough. Turn northward..." (Deuteronomy 2:3). They were to travel past relatives they were not exactly chummy with: Edom (relatives of Esau, brother of the Israelite patriarch Jacob) and Moab and Ammon (descendants of Lot, nephew of the Israelite patriarch Abraham). Israel was not to invade Edom, Ammon or Moab as they passed through, but God said He would give King Sihon and the Amorites into Israel's hands (Deuteronomy 2:24; Deuteronomy 2:31). Trusting in the Lord made God's people distinct from the neighboring nations: God's people were not to cleverly scheme for what God was giving them. They were to follow God's plan and direction.

Today, we have the joy of knowing Jesus came to reveal His Kingdom and a change of direction for His people. "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel" (Mark 1:15). No more going around in the same sin patterns. Repentance paves the way to a new promised land. Only this path leads to eternal life (Matthew 7:13).

Maybe we've created our own circles through disobedience, or life's unexpected troubles have surrounded us and we feel like David in Psalm 22:16: "a pack of villains encircles me" (NIV). But holy work is accomplished even in our mundane moments as God sovereignly uses our struggles and failures to shape us for His glory and our good. The preparation needed for God's assignments takes time, and God has all the time in the world. When we feel like we are off track, God always makes a way to bring us back. Even at our worst, God works out His redemption of our story.

Prayer: Jesus, help me to look for Your direction when I feel stuck on a spin cycle. I want to follow You and trust in Your plan, not my own. In Jesus' name, amen.