The Reroute You Didn't Ask For

If you have ever used Google Maps on a long drive, you know the moment. You are cruising along the highway, making good time, and suddenly that calm voice says, "Reroute. Take the next exit." The new path leads you down a two-lane road through a town you have never heard of, past a grain elevator and a gas station that looks like it closed during the Reagan administration. Everything in you wants to ignore it and stay on the interstate.

But here is what you cannot see from the driver's seat. Google Maps is processing data from thousands of other phones on that highway ahead of you. It knows about the jackknifed semi at mile marker 114. It sees the traffic backed up for seven miles. The detour that looks like a mistake is actually rescue.

Trust works the same way with God. The Almighty sees what we cannot see. He processes information we do not have access to. When He reroutes our lives — through an unexpected job loss, a closed door, a season that feels like a two-lane road to nowhere — we assume something has gone wrong. But the One who sees the end from the beginning is not lost. He is leading.

Proverbs 3:5 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." Your understanding is the view from the driver's seat. His understanding is the view from the satellite.

The next time life reroutes you, remember — you are not lost. You are being led.