Keion Henderson - The Long Way Around - Part 1

I want to talk and give you some clarity about what God does when you’re going the long way around. That’s what I want to discuss: the long way around. Knowing where you’re going and how you’re going to get there is actually a rare quality. Most people are moving, but they don’t know where. The people who don’t know where typically can’t muster enough energy to get going. Knowing where you’re headed and how you’re going to arrive is a rare but valuable and appreciated commodity. I’m a man, and men are often burned, brutalized, and ostracized because we typically pretend to know where we’re going. Even when we don’t know where we’re headed and end up lost, we pretend the entire time that we know where we’re going. Typically, a spouse is sitting in the front passenger seat, saying, «I could have saved us ten minutes,» because usually, women are proficient at knowing the shortcuts.

Men think we know where we’re going, and many of you have allowed us to drive in the opposite direction, fearing instigating an argument, all the while knowing we weren’t headed to the right place. Still, you let us do it because we typically believe that we know where we’re going. We become the butt of jokes because, when we’re lost, we refuse to admit it. In this day and age, shortcuts are often bragged about. A person might tell you, «I know a shortcut; I know how to get there.» Here in America, there is an app, which I’m sure exists in other places, called Waze. When traffic is heavy, unlike Google Maps and other apps, it directs you around the traffic to avoid getting stuck and provides shortcuts from point A to point B. A shortcut is always appreciated, but what if I told you that God’s prescription for your life in this season is to take the long way? What if I told you that there are no shortcuts in this season? Yes, your business will thrive, but not before you put in the work. You’re going to get the house you’ve been saving for, but it won’t come until you learn how to balance and budget.

Some of you have a child who is 12, 13, or 14 years old, and you can’t figure out if this child came from your womb or outer space. God says they will eventually get there, but this child’s journey is not like your other child’s journey. They are both going to get there, but this child is going to take the long way around. Your church is going to grow, but you can’t compare yourself to another minister whose ministry exploded in two, three, four, or five years, especially if you are in your tenth year. I can show you people who didn’t achieve success until their 13th, 14th, or 15th year. It doesn’t mean that God isn’t going to do it; sometimes, you are just one of those individuals who has to take the long way around.

I want you to take that thought and set it aside for a moment, and then I want you to confront our current context. I will suggest that as we move forward, we’ll look at the exchange between Joshua and Moses. Whenever an important job is assigned to an individual, it is essential to perform a background check. What is a background check? It is a system of verification; it’s a way to find out how you made decisions in the past. At our church, we have a daycare, and before anyone can work there, they must pass an FBI background check. A background check is simply a method of discovering how you responded under pressure. What did you do when you had an opportunity or obligation to pay something back but chose not to?

It’s a means of verifying, and anytime you are being considered for something significant, your past comes up. Anytime God is preparing to use you in an extraordinary way, someone from history will bring up a moment that could prevent you from your destiny. This is happening in our actor’s life today. It symbolizes that Joshua is about to go somewhere, and God has tasked him with finishing what Moses started. Moses, who was raised in Pharaoh’s house and witnessed a Hebrew man being beaten, committed murder and had to hide the body in the desert, did not realize that God would use him to emancipate a people. This stuttering man, who lacked eloquence in speech, was chosen to lead a people out of bondage. It did not happen when Moses was 20, 40, or even 60; it happened when he was 80 because Moses was the person who had to take the long way around.

I’m telling you right now, some of you are waiting on God, and you think that because it hasn’t happened yet, it won’t happen. I want you to listen today; if you don’t hear anything else that I’ve said or have to say throughout this conversation…