A fool finds no pleasure in understanding, but delights in airing his own opinions. – Prov. 18:1

The verse above really stood out this morning when I read it. It made me go to God again before I wrote my observations about Pastor Andy Stanley’s The Principle of the Path.

I don’t want to be “a fool … who delights in airing his own opinions.” And Lord knows I could be all wrong. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time. So be prayerful as you read what I’ve written below. My intentions are not to be critical or disagreeable. But after reading Andy’s book yesterday, I have to admit I was disappointed.

In a nutshell, I don’t think he said all he needed to say about the principle of the path.

Feeling Lost
Some of us are in places we don’t want to be. We thought we were obediently exercising faith, doing what God asked us to do. But the outcome doesn’t look anything like what we expected. So in the first four chapters of his book, when Andy asks, “Didn’t you see this coming?” many of us honestly answer, “No, I didn’t.”

There are times, of course, when all of us take the wrong path (some of us much more than others). And in those cases, Andy’s response is appropriate for us: “You should have seen this coming. And what you couldn’t see coming you should have been prepared for.”

But many people today need a more compassionate response. What should we say to the millions of hard-working people who faithfully served a company, but are now unemployed? I’ve heard that our nation’s real unemployment rate is close to 20 percent, and more than 3 million jobs have been lost in the past year. I’ve watched my sons from a distance as they were forced to take cuts in pay and lay off workers at each of their companies. I read reports of thousands of car dealers who ran profitable businesses for decades, only to be shut down by the manufacturers. Plus, these dealers laid off 300,000 employees from their dealerships across the country. Here in Wilmington, a successful Christian owner of a large dealership committed suicide.

Last Words
The final chapter of Andy Stanley’s book, The Principle of the Path, is entitled “Road Closed.” He starts the last chapter with these words:

“The subtitle of this book implies that there is always a way to get from where you are to where you want to be. But we both know that that’s not always the case. …Time, bad decisions, and experience put some destinations out of reach. There are dreams that can’t come true.”

Then he says, “I want to answer the question, What do you do with the dreams that can’t come true?”

Andy’s answer, and the final words in the last chapter of his book are, “You pray, not my will, but yours be done. And then you rest in the fact that you have done all you can … and all you should.”

I’m sure Andy didn’t mean that we should just give up and throw in the towel. But I wish he had better demonstrated the hope that we have in this life as we walk with the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

I totally agree that it would be much better to avoid wrong turns, shortcuts to nowhere, and dead ends. (He quoted Proverbs 27:12, “The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.”) And Andy accurately makes the case that we should avoid problems by looking ahead, and turn around quickly when we discover we’re lost. But I think he could have better demonstrated the hope we have when we are not where we want to be, or think our dreams will never come true.

Dead End vs. Detour
When we make mistakes, get off the path, and find ourselves where we don’t want to be, that’s not the end. Never. Not even for those who are dying of cancer or who have lost their jobs and everything else that is important to them. We may not be where we expected or hoped, but I believe that is because God is showing us a new path so we can end up in an even better place — both here and in the afterlife.

Eternity with God is our greatest hope. But there is also one example after another in scripture that here in this life God provides new paths when we reach the end of one.

When Jesus said, “Not my will, but yours be done,” those weren’t his last words. The dream wasn’t over. It wasn’t the end of the story. Not by a long shot. He didn’t throw up his hands and say, “Oh well, I gave it my best shot.” He went on to heroically redeem the world! He courageously suffered, demonstrated His love for us, hung naked on the cross and died for our sins. Then He was raised from the dead, ascended into Heaven, and was given all authority in heaven and on earth.

I’d say He reached His dream, even when it looked like there was no hope. (He died trying to reach it!)

In fact, that was the beginning of a whole new story. Read the book of Acts. Jesus traveled a rough path to end up at His coronation ceremony as a demonstration for us. That is our path. An exciting journey, full of twists and turns, mountain tops and valleys, battles, victories and defeats.

Jesus couldn’t take a shortcut to reach His dream, and neither can we. But this is no time to give up and throw it all away. We’re closer than ever to reaching it. So keep working toward your dream. Do as Andy said and focus on the right things. And do the right things. Because eventually you’ll end up where you want, even if you didn’t know it was the right place.