My husband and I were driving to Columbia, Missouri to visit our son and his wife. It was a beautiful sunny day and were were enjoying the six-hour drive until…

Traffic on the Interstate slowed and stopped. Instead of zipping along at 70 miles per hour, we were now crawling along at 7 miles per hour–or less!

I called my son to tell him we would probably be later than expected. He got on his computer and discovered that a huge accident had occurred. Yep–this was going to take awhile.

But then he also found an alternate route–a frontage road that ran along the highway. “You should be able to follow that until you are past the accident,” he said. So we exited the freeway at the next opportunity and were soon rushing past the parked cars on the Interstate.

We were feeling rather smug until traffic on the frontage road slowed and stopped. It seemed we were not the only cars to have the idea of the shortcut and now the skinny frontage road couldn’t handle all the traffic.

In fact, the pace was so slow on the shortcut that before we were able to pass the accident site, the damaged cars were towed away and traffic on the Interstate flowed ahead. Cars and trucks we had been stuck behind in the traffic jam now passed us up.

Taking the shortcut had actually cost us time.

Isn’t that often the case in life as well?

Sometimes life’s problems cause a traffic jam in the progress to my goals. God tells me to trust Him. He reminds me to wait–He has everything under control. But I get impatient and try to elbow my way past God’s plan. I rely on my own puny self-sufficiency instead of God’s almighty power.

As I have thought about this, I can see three reasons why I should avoid shortcuts in life:

• Forcing my way ahead, may seem more productive, but may prevent me from learning valuable lessons. Taking the shortcut may seem faster (waiting always seems like a waste of time, right?), but it may also shortcut important life lessons only available during the waiting period. Psalm 25:5 says, “Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long” (emphasis added).
• Impatience may lead me to disobedience and missing God’s blessing. In the Old Testament, the prophet Samuel instructed King Saul to wait seven days when Samuel would return to offer the sacrifice. But Saul didn’t wait (1 Samuel 13) and in so doing lost the Lord’s blessing on his dynasty.
• Doing things in my my own way and my own timetable may rob me of an opportunity to watch God in a marvelous, miraculous way. Psalm 52:9 says, “I will thank you forever, because you have done it. I will wait for your name, for it is good, in the presence of the godly” (emphasis added).

I hate waiting. But if a shortcut leads me away from God’s purpose for my the life. the shortcut is worse than the waiting. If an alternative route takes me away from God’s peaceful presence it isn’t worth it.

I’m making an effort to avoid detours. To ignore shortcuts. If God asks me to wait, I will say yes. He promises to provide the best route possible. He assures me His path is best.

Next step: Think about where in your life you are waiting right now. What shortcuts are you tempted to take? Write a prayer asking God to help you avoid them and to stay on the path He desires for your life.