Day 32
Exodus 13–14 | Mark 14:66–15:15
“By a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.” (Exodus 13:16)
God didn’t take Israel on the shortest route to the Promised Land. The direct path through Philistine territory would have gotten them there quickly—but God knew their hearts. He knew that when faced with fear, they’d turn back to the slavery they had just been freed from. So instead, He led them the long way. A harder way. A way through the wilderness.
But He never left them. The pillar of cloud went before them by day, the fire by night—constant reminders of His presence.
Then, when Pharaoh’s army closed in, the people panicked. And Moses told them:
“Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will work for you today.” (Exodus 14:13)
Stand firm. Watch God work.
That hits home.
I didn’t get the easy way out either. When I woke up in a hospital bed in San Francisco, my hand wrapped in bandages and warming blankets, my future uncertain, I would have given anything for a shortcut to healing. A way around the pain. A quick resolution to the suffering. But instead, He led me the long way—the harder way. The way through the wilderness.
And yet, like Israel, I was never alone.
He was there in every detail. In my cousin, the paramedic supervisor who connected me to the best possible care. In my best friend, J, who just happened to be with me when it happened—his years of training as a first responder keeping me calm, talking me through shock and blood loss. In M, who was in the right place at the right time to get my wife to me. In my friend and pastor, Andrei, who walked past hospital staff when they said visitors were impossible, just to pray over me before I was airlifted away. In my mom and sister who dropped everything and drove 600 miles through the night to take care of my daughter. In my Aunt Carol, already in San Francisco for a business trip, waiting at my side when I woke up from surgery—because my wife and daughter were still in Fresno, three hours away.
No visible pillar of cloud. No fire in the sky. But God was just as present. Just as faithful.
And still, He says: “Stand firm. Watch Me work.”
Late last night, my phone rang. It was a brother whose marriage is unraveling under the weight of his pornography addiction and the broken trust his sin caused. He’s desperate for a way forward, but there’s no shortcut through this kind of healing. No quick fix for reconciliation. Just the long way. The hard way.
But I reminded him that we believe in the God who reconciles. The One who parts seas and makes a way where there is none.
If you’re in the wilderness today—if the way ahead feels slow, painful, uncertain—know this: The long way is still God’s way. And He never leads us where His presence won’t sustain us.
Lord, help me trust You in the long way around. When fear and doubt creep in, remind me that You are always near, always working, always faithful. Let me stand firm and watch You move. Amen.
