[Richard Kennebeck] You know, Memorial Day, which we've just come through, is kind of the beginning of summer here in the US.  We often take that as when the pools start opening up and summer's here.  We start thinking about summer things like vacations and trips.  I'm sure all of you have taken a trip from time to time whether by car or plane, boat or train or a long distance one like somebody I know here, Mr. Phelps, on motorcycle.  We typically plan those out and we agonize over the details – the route that we are going to take, how we're going to do it, the best way to go.  And I look back at many of the trips that I have gone through, my wife and I in the years that we have been married.  In the early years when it was just her and I, we were young and carefree and gas was relatively cheap.  We had an old American Motors 1972 Hornet Hatchback and we went back and forth between Texas and California a number of times.  She was usually the navigator.  In advance we'd go ahead and plan out on a map.  We'd have a highlighter and we'd plan our trip out and she'd carefully follow that route.  She'd mark it out.  We had no GPS at the time, of course.  She always gave me the directions and I always followed her and she seldom led me astray. 

And then after we had children, we often planned these wonderful trips to far flung places in the US and Canada for the Feast because what an opportunity our children had as they got to see all these historical sites and how different people lived in different areas of this great nation of ours.  We wanted to broaden and expand their minds and hopefully it did for them. 

Have you ever planned out a trip, decided exactly where you wanted to go and on the spur of the moment as you're on your path, your travel, you decide to go another way because for some reason that way looked better than what you'd originally planned out?  My wife and children and I did that once.  I'm sure we've done it more than that, but there's one time that we remember many years ago.  We were coming back from the Feast of Tabernacles, Wisconsin Dells.  We were going to Texas.  We lived in Dallas, TX at the time and we had planned out our trip in advance.  Had it all figured out.  And then just north of Springfield, MO, we saw this sign that said “Scenic Route”.  Scenic route.  And we thought, “Oh, it's going to go through the Ozarks and it's going to go through Branson. Wow! That would be wonderful!.” We thought, rather than drive on this boring Interstate highway, we'd take the scenic route.  So we decided to take a detour.  Didn't look much longer, as I said, and we thought, “Well, scenic route, this will be nice.”  But to make a long story short, my wife and I still to this day chuckle when we see a sign that says “Scenic Route.”  And we often will actually say, “Hey, honey, do you want to take the scenic route?”  And we almost never do – almost never do.  That scenic route was really pretty.  I'm sure it was, but we didn't get a chance to see most of it.  Our detour took us twice as long as the original plan we had decided.  It took us twice as long to get to our hotel that evening.  We understand now what a scenic route is.  It's another name for hilly, curvy, narrow, slow, dark and sometimes scary.  Instead of arriving at our hotel at 4 or 5 in the evening, we arrived long after dark and we were grumpy and tired, hungry and just plain miserable.  And that evening that original trip we had decided on, going the Interstate, looked pretty good to us.  And we wished we hadn't taken that detour.  We wished we hadn't taken that choice at all. 

And that's what I'd like to talk about today – detours – detours that we sometimes make in our life and take in our life on the path that God has set us for the kingdom of God.  We sometimes hear that our present life, our present life is a journey through a wilderness on a road that leads to the kingdom of God.  Right now we're in the midst of that wilderness – a spiritual wilderness – and as time goes on day after day, we realize that's becoming more of a spiritual desert.  And we learn a lot of lessons as we walk through our wilderness from our forefathers, the Israelites who came out of Egypt and on their way to the Promised Land.  First of all, the Israelites grew up in Egypt.  They grew up in a land of slavery, a land of pagan practices and they had to change their lifestyle, change their way.  And that was going to be really difficult for them.  They had old habits that they had learned in Egypt as they grew up and lived in Egypt and they were told to change their ways and replace them by the way of God, which is what we're also told to do. 

Let's turn to 1 Corinthians 10.  Let's learn something about this travel that they had through the wilderness that Paul talks to us about.  1 Corinthians is written to the gentile city of Corinth and Paul uses the example of the Israelites during their exodus and their travels through the wilderness to teach us lessons – teach lessons to the church, lessons which are applicable to us today.  Beginning in verse 1 it says: 

1 Corinthians 10:1 - Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea,   Vs. 2 - all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,   Vs. 3 - all ate the same spiritual food,   Vs. 4 - and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.   In verses 1-4 Paul is reminding the Corinthian church that Israel had a spiritual leader.  They had a pillar of fire, they had a cloud by day, they were baptized in the cloud and in the sea, which is symbolic of our baptism, and that Christ was always with them leading them.  And then we come across on one of those very small words in the English language that when we see that, we realize the tone is going to change a bit.  That word is 'but'.  Vs. 5 - But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.   Because of Israel's disobedience, all but two of the original people that came out of Egypt that were over the age of 20, all but two of them died in the wilderness.  Joshua and Caleb were the only two that made it through to the Promised Land.  Continuing in verse 6 - Now these things became our examples...  Paul is recording something that should become our example – examples to us.  Much of the Bible is a living history that should be examples to us and Israel's wandering through the wilderness is an example to us today.  It should be an example to help us through our lives in this wilderness.  Continuing on it says,  ...to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.   Vs. 7 - And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, "THE PEOPLE SAT DOWN TO EAT AND DRINK, AND ROSE UP TO PLAY."   Vs. 8 - Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell;   Vs. 9 - nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents;   Vs. 10 - nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer.   Vs. 11 - Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

Paul continues to admonish us to use the history of Israel and learn from it.  Learn from their mistakes and put those into our lives.  They are examples to us because as it says, upon whom the ends of the ages have come, speaking of us in this end time.  And they, Israel, went through the same trials and tribulations as we go through as they wandered and as the people in Paul's time were going through.  And Paul took all these events from the time of the wilderness – all these events are discussed in the book of Numbers.  All these happened while Israel wandered through the wilderness.  And then Paul ends this with an admonition to us to examine ourselves closely so that we don't fall into those same sins.  In verse 12 he says - Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.   We need to be constantly reevaluating our stand in life, reevaluating our path in life, how we're following God and if we're learning the examples of our brethren and our forefathers. 

Now that we've seen that we need to learn from these examples of Israel in the wilderness, let's take a closer look at some of their detours, some of the detours they took as they traveled through the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land and see what lessons we can learn from that.  I'm only going to go through four detours.  There are many more that Israel went through as they went to the Promised Land, but I'm going to go through just four of those.  These are some of the keys to why Israel, many of them, did not make it to the land flowing with milk and honey.  And we can take these four detours and take a look and see if we have these in our lives and hopefully we can learn from these Israelites as we go towards reaching the kingdom of God. 

The first – or one detour to entering the Promised Land is focus on the giants rather than on God's promises.  This is one of the detours that Israel had when they went to the Promised Land.  They focused on the giants rather than on God's promises.  We have fears and worries in this life.  We don't know what's going to happen in our lives.  Satan presents many to us.  He wants us to keep looking at giants so he can keep us from reaching the Promised Land.  There are so many fears and phobias in this world.  So many of them have been cataloged and written down.  Let me tell you about a few of them. 

• There's Peladophobia – fear of baldness and bald people
• There's Aerophobia – fear of drafts
• There's Levophobia – fear of objects on the left side of your body.  Okay, hopefully none of you fear whoever's on the left side of your body
• But  just to make it equal, there's Dextrophobia- fear of objects on the right side of your body.  So there, you can get the other person back
• Calyprophobia – fear of obscure meanings
• Cathisophobia – fear of being seated
• Graphophobia – fear of writing in public
• And there is, of course, Phobophobia – fear of being afraid

 

We all have our fears.  It's normal in human lives for us to have that.  We don't know everything that's going to happen in our lives.  We don't know what's going to happen to us in the future and that leaves us open to worry.  It does.  But we need to make sure that that doesn't keep us from reaching the goal of the kingdom of God. 

Let's turn to Numbers 13, beginning in verse 17 and we'll read here about the first time the spies were sent into the Promised Land to scope it out, to see what the Promised Land was like, to see this destination that they were going to go to. 

Numbers 13:17 - Then Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, "Go up this way into the South, and go up to the mountains,   Vs. 18 - and see what the land is like: whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, few or many;   Vs. 19 - whether the land they dwell in is good or bad; whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or strongholds;   Vs. 20 - whether the land is rich or poor; and whether there are forests there or not. Be of good courage. And bring some of the fruit of the land." Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes.   Now if we drop down to verse 25 we read - And they returned from spying out the land after forty days.   Vs. 26 - Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.   Vs. 27 - Then they told him, and said: "We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.   They brought back fruit to show that the land was truly flowing with milk and honey just as God had promised them.  He promised them a wonderful land, a wonderful destination that Israel was going to possess.  But in verse 29, we start finding out about some of the obstacles – the people, the fortified cities, the giants in this new land.  Beginning in verse 28 - Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there.   Vs. 29 - The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan."   Vs. 30 - Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, "Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it."   Vs. 31 - But the men who had gone up with him said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we."   Vs. 32 - And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, "The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature.   Vs. 33 - There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight."  

The obstacles seemed pretty daunting.  But the spies reacted differently as we know the story.  What's the difference between Caleb who said “Let's go up and conquer the land,”  and the spies who came back and said, “We cannot.  They're too great for us.  There are giants in the land, we are grasshoppers.”  Well, Caleb knew the facts.  He looked back.  He realized what God had done for them already.  He brought them out of Egypt.  He brought them through the Red Sea.  The water crushed the Egyptian army and drowned them.  He remembered the promises of God and he kept his eyes off the giants and on those promises, on the goals that God had given them.  He kept his eye on the Promised Land.  The rest of the spies other than Joshua, they forgot the goal.  They forgot the Promised Land.  All they could see was the giants – the fear of the giants.  They forgot the power of God.  They could not see past that.  And now, in the next chapter in verse 1, we see how the people of Israel respond to this news brought back. 

Number 14:1 it says, - So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night.   Vs. 2 - And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, "If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness!   Vs. 3 - Why has the LORD brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?"   Vs. 4 - So they said to one another, "Let us select a leader and return to Egypt."

How did the children of Israel respond?  “Let's go back.  Let's give up.  This journey is too hard for us.  There are too many giants.  It's too difficult.  Let's just give up and go back.”  But Caleb and Joshua saw it differently.  They opted to go back and look at God's strength.  They claimed the promise – claimed the promise for His guidance and for His direction, for His protection no matter how small they looked in the sight of those giants. 

Numbers 14:6 and it says, - But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes;   Vs. 7 - and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: "The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land.   They saw the promise that God wanted to give them.  Vs. 8 - If the LORD delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, 'a land which flows with milk and honey.'   Vs 9 - Only do not rebel against the LORD, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the LORD is with us...   What confidence they have not only to say that God will help them overcome, but to say they are our bread. 

So when you see your giants showing up, when you go through trials and temptations, what are you going to do?  Can you see the promise of the kingdom of God in front of you?  As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:13, and this is right after the discourse that we read earlier, he tells us that God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able.  But with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. When we see the giants God has a way to escape them.  And Paul also gave us encouragement as he gave to the Philippians where he says in Philippians 4:13 - I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.  We can conquer any giant through Christ who strengthens us.  We have to follow His path.  He will overcome the giants.  Any giants that we meet along our way, we need to turn over to God to slay and we need to do this on a daily basis.

There's a quote by a piece from Mary Crowley that says, “Every evening I turn worries over to God.  He's going to be up all night anyway.”  We'll let Him go ahead and worry about our worries.  Let God worry about your giants that you have.  So rather than focus on our fears and our trials that look like giants in front of us, let's focus on God and His promises.  Brethren, don't get detoured.  Focus on God's promises, not on the giants.

A second detour to entering the Promised Land was do things your way, not God's way.  Israel went ahead and did things their way, not God's way.  If you want to get detoured from the Promised Land, do things your way.  The life of a Christian is about doing things God's way, not man's way, about doing things God's way, not my way.  A Christian life is all about obeying and submitting to God and to His direction.  When God brought Israel out of Egypt, He didn't take her the most direct way.  He had a different way.  It wasn't the logical way to the Promised Land.  That was basically a fourteen day trip around the Mediterranean Sea, the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.  That's what man's logic would have said, but God purposely took them a different way.  Exodus 13:17 tells us what it was – or at least one reason.  It says in Exodus 13:17:

Exodus 13:17 - When Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the Philistine country, though that was shorter, for God said if they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt. 

God had a reason to lead Israel a different way.  It was a different way, a longer way.  It wasn't the short way, it wasn't the easy way.  God didn't want Israel to see war and become discouraged, but God also wanted to show Israel something else.  He wanted to open the Red Sea and show the Israelites the power of God.  We don't have to understand why in order to obey God.  God's way may not always sound logical to us, but that shouldn't stop us from doing His way. 

An example from the New Testament.  How many of you paid taxes recently?  I'm sure we all did.  How many of you paid taxes with money out of a fish?  Peter did.  Remember Christ told him to go fish and he would find the money for the tax in the fish's mouth?  That doesn't sound logical, does it?  But that happened.  Peter did that.  He paid the tax bill out of the mouth of a fish. 

Israel didn't heed God while they were in the wilderness.  They continued to murmur and complain because things weren't exactly the way they wanted it.  They thought they could do better. 

Let's turn to Psalms 106 beginning in verse 24.  Psalms 105 and 106 are psalms that give us a summary of the history of early Israel from the time of Abraham through the time of Canaan.  Psalms 106 beginning with verse 24 it begins with the disobedience of Israel.  It says:

Psalms 106:24 - Then they despised the pleasant land; They did not believe His word,   Vs. 25 - But complained in their tents, And did not heed the voice of the LORD.   Vs. 26 - Therefore He raised His hand in an oath against them, To overthrow them in the wilderness,   Vs. 27 - To overthrow their descendants among the nations, And to scatter them in the lands.  

Israel didn't heed God, didn't believe Him, thought they had a better way, thought they could do it better than God.  But let's turn to Hebrews 3.  In Hebrews 3, Paul quotes Psalms 95 and he tells his readers that they need to heed God's voice.  Psalms 95 talks about the heart of Israel when they wandered through the wilderness.  And this isn't, as was mentioned earlier in the sermonette, ten years looking back, twenty years looking back, thirty years looking back – Paul is looking back millennia.  Looking back at the Israelites as they went through the wilderness. 

Hebrews 3:7 - Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: "TODAY, IF YOU WILL HEAR HIS VOICE,   Vs. 8 - DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS IN THE REBELLION, IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS,   Vs. 9 - WHERE YOUR FATHERS TESTED ME, TRIED ME, AND SAW MY WORKS FORTY YEARS.   Vs. 10 - THEREFORE I WAS ANGRY WITH THAT GENERATION, AND SAID, 'THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART, AND THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN MY WAYS.'   Vs. 11 - SO I SWORE IN MY WRATH, 'THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.' "    Paul is entreating his readers to not follow the path of these early Israelites.   Vs. 12 - Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;   Vs. 13 - but exhort one another daily, while it is called "TODAY," lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.   Vs. 14 - For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end,   Vs. 15 - while it is said: "TODAY, IF YOU WILL HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS IN THE REBELLION."

This hardening of your hearts can happen slowly over time.  It can happen so slowly you may not even know it's happening to you.  There's a story that Kent Crockett tells on his kentcrockett.com website about hardening your heart.  It says, “When I first entered the seminary, I found an apartment room next to a railroad crossing. I wondered why the apartment rent was so cheap—and found out the very first night. A train came through in the middle of the night, blasting its horn. It didn’t just wake me up, but also nearly gave me a heart attack!

“Every night when the train came through, it blew the horn. At first I thought about changing apartments, but then I started getting used to the nightly awakenings. I would wake up for a few seconds, then go back to sleep. Eventually I got where the train horn didn’t even wake me up.  I had hardened my heart to the train and couldn’t hear it any more.” 

That same hardening process can happen in us if we're not careful.  Slowly over time it can harden our spiritual heart as we decide to take our path rather than God's path.  We can slowly harden our spiritual heart. 

So, brethren, don't get detoured.  Do things God's way rather than our way.  Follow His way and path to the reward He has promised for us. 

A third detour to entering the Promised Land is seek short-term gratification rather than building long-lasting character.  Seek short-term gratification rather than building long-lasting character.  Often when we disobey God, we're seeking the easy way out.  We're seeking short-term gratification, the easy path rather than the godly path, the long-term building of godly character.  One of the main purposes of our human life here on this earth is to build true, godly character, an enduring character that God wants us to have as a spirit being for all eternity when He changes us into spirit beings at His return.  That's one of the main reasons we go through this wilderness we find around us now. 

When God brought Israel out of Egypt, as I said earlier, He didn't bring them the easy way.  He took them a different way through the Red Sea and then He allowed them to wander for forty years.  God had a purpose in this.  God had a purpose in this. 

Turn with me to Deuteronomy 8, verses 2 and 3, because that forty years of wandering had a greater purpose.  It had a greater purpose than just to have those that were over the age of twenty at the rebellion – a greater purpose than just for those to die before they entered into the Promised Land.  God had a purpose for this forty years of wandering.  

Deuteronomy 8:2 - And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.   Vs. 3 - So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD.

God led Israel through the wilderness for forty years so He could understand their heart and so they could be humbled and have a change of heart.  Godly character takes time.  It must be built.  It must be built through living life and life experiences, through making the right decisions as we go through trials and temptations.  It is built by being a Joshua and being a Caleb, by being a Stephen and being a Paul; by living God's way and upholding His ways even during difficult times because God will not give everlasting life to anyone that does not have godly character to be an eternal being.  And that's why we are admonished by Paul to strive for that crown of glory. 

Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 9.  Paul mentions several times in his epistles about the part that we have to do in our life as a Christian.  In 1 Corinthians 9 Paul uses the example of a person running a race and how we must fight to do our part.

1 Corinthians 9:24 - Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.   Vs. 25 - And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we an imperishable crown.   Vs. 26 - Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air.   Vs. 27 - But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

An athlete must discipline himself.  He must grow in character.  It's not something that he can do just overnight, it takes time.  There is no quick way to be a good athlete.  It takes time, it takes effort, it takes the building of character.

I'd like to illustrate this with a story from a book called 'Small Town Graces' by Ken Chapman.  “A traveler in Italy watched with curiosity as a lumberman occasionally jabbed a sharp hook into a log separating it from the others that were floating down a mountain stream.  When asked why he did it, the worker replied, ‘These may all look the same to you, but a few of them are quite different.  The ones I let pass are from trees that grew in the valley where they were always protected from the storms.  Their grain is coarse.  The ones I've hooked and kept apart from the rest came from high up in the mountains.  From the time they were small, they were beaten by strong winds.  That toughens the trees and gives them a fine and beautiful grain.  We save them for choice work.  They are too good to make plain lumber from.’”  That's just as we are.  Our nature as we are buffeted - we become more perfect, more mature, more what God wants us to be like.  As we go through the trials and temptations in life, our grain becomes more beautiful just as those trees' grain became more beautiful and better to use.  It's through the building of character through the trials that we go through by not taking the easy way out, by going God's way, that we can build this character, this grain and become the Christians that God wants us to be and so God can say to us, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”

The Israelites' entire wilderness experience was to prepare them for living in the Promised Land, for having the right heart to be in their Promised Land.  And the same thing is what we have as we go through this journey that we have now.  It's to build us to have the character and the heart that we need to prepare us for our future in the kingdom of God.  So, brethren, don't get detoured.  Strive to build long-lasting character rather than seeking the easy way out and instant gratification. 

A fourth detour to the Promised Land is limit God so He can't do in you what He wants to.  Limit God so He can't do in you what He wants to.  God is limitless, but we can limit Him.  God has so many wonderful things that He wants to do through us and by us.  He has great plans for us – wonderful plans, but sometimes we limit God and He can't fulfill those in us.  Israel believed God enough to come out of Egypt, but not enough to get into the Promised Land and we can be that way also.  They limited God so they could not reach the Promised Land. 

Let's take a look at Psalms 78 because how did Israel limit God?  Psalm 78, we'll begin in verse 39 and we'll read several verses about how Israel limited God as they wandered through the wilderness because they limited God during that time.

Psalms 78:39 - For He remembered that they were but flesh, A breath that passes away and does not come again.   Vs. 40 - How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, And grieved Him in the desert!   Vs. 41 - Yes, again and again they tempted God, And limited the Holy One of Israel.   Vs. 42 - They did not remember His power: The day when He redeemed them from the enemy,   Vs. 43 - When He worked His signs in Egypt, And His wonders in the field of Zoan;   Vs. 44 - Turned their rivers into blood, And their streams, that they could not drink.   How often they provoked Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert. 

Can man limit God?  Well, Psalm 78:41 says that we can.  It says that Israel limited God.  It wasn't God's decision to hold them back.  It was Israel's decision.  God had a plan.  He had a goal for Israel, but Israel limited Him.  And how did they do this?  Well, let's look at those verses again.  It says they provoked Him, they grieved Him, they tempted Him, they forgot His wonders and they forgot His power.  And it isn't just Israel from the time of Exodus that did that.  Throughout all of Israel's history, or much of it, her people limited God.

In Mark 6 beginning in verse 4 we read an account of where Jesus was limited in the New Testament.  He was limited from being able to do great miracles among His brethren in His home town. 

Mark 6:4 it says, - "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house."   Vs. 5 - Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.   Vs. 6 - And He...  Christ  ...marveled because of their unbelief.

The people of Nazareth limited Christ so Christ could not do a mighty work there.  We always need to be watchful that we're not limiting Christ that He can't do a mighty work through us. 

So, brethren, don't get detoured, don't limit God, allow Him to do in your life what He wants to do.  Israel's journey through the wilderness wasn't just a random walk in the middle of an isolated nowhere.  God had a purpose for them, God had a reason, He had a plan, He had a desire that Israel enter into the Promised Land.  Our Christian journey is not a random walk, either.  We walk through this spiritual wilderness and we can be thankful that God has given us His Holy Spirit and His truth as tools.  He's laid out a path for us and He says He'll never leave us nor forsake us. 

In our wilderness journey we need to be asking not how do I get out of it, but what am I learning as I'm going through it.  We need to be asking not how do I get out of this, but what am I learning as I'm going through it?  We shouldn't be seeking the easiest way out of this wilderness - short cuts or a detour – we should be seeking the way that leads us towards the kingdom of God and helps us the best grow in the grace and knowledge of God so that He can help us and prepare us for the kingdom of God and for spiritual life.  We shouldn't be wandering now or we shouldn't be in the midst of some detour.  In Proverbs 3:6 it says - In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.   God has a path for us and He will direct it and we should be careful we don't detour off that path.  The Promised Land that we're all yearning for and looking forward to – the kingdom of God – lies on the other side of this wilderness we find ourselves in now.  We need to walk in that path that God set before us, we need to make sure that we don't get detoured from the kingdom of God. 

• Don't get detoured - focus on God's promises, not on the giants. 
• Don't get detoured – do things God's way rather than your way. 
• Don't get detoured – strive to build long-lasting godly character rather than seeking the easy way out. 
• And don't get detoured – don't limit God.  Allow Him to accomplish in you what He desires.