Wherever We Go

God's people have always been on the go, and sometimes the going has been rough.

Following the Lord's instructions, Abraham left his home in Ur and traveled to a new land where God used him to bless all nations of the earth. Sold into slavery by his brothers, Joseph ended up in Egypt where he became Pharoah's second-in-command.

If you think you've had rough experiences with travel, put yourself in the sandals of Moses. He led a huge tour group through the desert for 40 years, and even then when they arrived at their destination he didn't get to enter the Promised Land!

After her husband died, Ruth traveled from her ancestral home in Moab into an unfamiliar environment in Judah. Forced to flee from King Saul, David was often on the move, sleeping under the stars and hiding in caves. Elijah traveled to a ravine where ravens brought him room service twice a day. When young Daniel and his friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were taken from their homeland into exile in Babylon, they discovered several lessons that can help us today.

Wherever we go, there will be something to learn. Though they were far from home, Daniel and his friends received a solid education—and not only in the language and literature of another culture, but also in the ways of God. "To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning" (Daniel 1:17). Wherever we travel, there's always something to learn about people, about the church, about the Lord, and about ourselves.

Furthermore, wherever we go, there will be hardships. Far from home, Daniel and his friends found their faith challenged repeatedly. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into a fiery furnace because they refused to bow down before the Babylonians' golden idol. Daniel was cast into a lion's den because he insisted on praying to the Lord instead of worshiping the Babylonian king. In every circumstance, they faced their hardships with courage and faith. Daniel's friends told the king, "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up" (Daniel 3:17-18).

Daniel and his friends also illustrate that wherever we go, the Lord will be there too. There was a "fourth man" in the fire with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. King Nebuchadnezzar gazed with amazement into the furnace and exclaimed, "Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods." The men emerged completely unscathed. "The fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them" (Daniel 3:25, 27). Likewise Daniel emerged from the lion's den unharmed because God was with him.

Being far from home does not mean being far from God.

David cried out, "Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? . . . If I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast" (Psalm 139:7-10). The omnipresent God brings comfort to those who travel on business and to missionaries, soldiers, and students whose duties take them to faraway lands. Being far from home does not mean we must be far from God.

Finally, wherever we go, there will be ways to serve the Lord. In exile far from home, Daniel rose to a place of influence in the Babylonian government. There he gave strong, enduring prophecies about the rise and fall of nations and about the coming Messiah's kingdom. The apostle Paul's travels took him across Asia Minor and into Western Europe, and everywhere he went he found opportunities to preach and to serve.

The hymn writer said it well:

"I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord, O'er mountain or plain or sea. I'll say what you want me to say, dear Lord, I'll be what you want me to be."