“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.” (Luke 2:1)
I can’t think of two words that I’d rather see less on a freeway filled with red lights other than “Detour Ahead.” That just means that our journey will be much longer and that I might not get to where I need to be, at least not in the time frame that I had planned. We tend to like our plans. We like to believe that our path is straight, predictable, and manageable. But the Scriptures seem to suggest that God often does some of his best work in the midst of our detours.
This is exactly what happened to Mary and Joseph. Their journey to Bethlehem wasn’t a carefully chosen travel destination. It wasn’t a “Babymoon” or a fun trip down to visit family. It was an unplanned detour in their family plan, and it all happened because some genius in the government, someone on the other side of the known world, decided that it would be a good idea to have all his subjects counted. Why? We have no idea. Caesar signed some paperwork, and their life was put on a detour. Just like that, Joseph found himself preparing for a 90-mile journey with a very pregnant wife.
If anyone had a reason to resist, complain, or question this timing, it was these two. Yet Luke tells the story without drama: “So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem…” They simply obeyed. They walked forward into circumstances they didn’t choose.
What Caesar could never have known is that God was quietly orchestrating something far bigger than what could be imagined. Centuries earlier, Micah had prophesied that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. So while Rome flexed its muscles, God was fulfilling His promise. This “entire Roman world” decree became a divine delivery system… not just for the census of that part of the world, but for the Savior of the world as a whole!
Sometimes God’s direction can feel like a detour. A job change you didn’t ask for. A diagnosis you never expected. A plan that suddenly shifts. A door that closes before you understand why. But what looks like a detour from our perspective may actually be God’s careful guidance.
Mary and Joseph didn’t have the whole picture. They just had an annoying order to follow, which gave them a place to go. Even though the timing felt inconvenient and the road felt long, they discovered that God was in the detour. He was ahead of them in Bethlehem, preparing a place and fulfilling a promise. This detour ended up being a much bigger story than they could see.
This experience may be more common than we realize. Maybe the circumstances that seem like detours, feeling forced, unwanted, or unexpected, are actually the way God leads us in the story that is so much bigger than we can comprehend. You may not have chosen the road you’re on, but God wastes no journey. And when you finally arrive at the place that the latest detour leads, you might just find that God was leading you there all along.
Josh Rose
Family Pastor