He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me. (2 Samuel 22:20)

Annoying would be a mild word to describe what I have been experiencing over the past few days of driving from home in St. Catharines to Wainfleet, where the churches I pastor are located.

Highway 406, the road which takes me more than half way toward my destination has been under construction lately.

At a certain point, two lanes are reduced to one. Depending on what time of day one is driving, this could translate into a short slowdown or a lengthy delay.

Either way it is an inconvenience. And it is not going to go away anytime soon.

You see, Hwy 406 was two lanes only up to a certain point. Now crews are working away to widen it to two lanes all the way.

So, we know that when all the work is completed, it will make the trip a lot faster than it is right now.

But, for now, we have no choice but to put up with the delays.

The highway of life on which we travel often takes us through these times of narrowing lanes, doesn’t it?

The narrowing could be a restriction brought about by changes in our health, work, business, finances, relationship, family, church, faith…(please feel free to add to the list!).

It puts a dent in our plans. We are delayed unexpectedly. And it can be very frustrating.

The enemy of our souls makes us feel as though we were hemmed in and slowed down forever.

Ministers such as Darren Canning and I who minister prophetically are often asked questions such as these by those who seek ministry:

“Why am I not advancing into my destiny as fast as I should? Why have the promises God made not come to pass yet? What is the reason for the delay?”

Of course, there is no pat answer to any of these questions. Sometimes the Lord tells us something. Sometimes He is silent.

In my own life though, I can think of several times when the highway narrowed from two lanes to one. It was as though I could not make progress even if I wanted to, because someone else was dictating how fast I could go. I could not simply speed by as I would had there been an extra lane.

Looking back, I now realize that there was a reason God wanted me to slow down, to get a more narrow focus on life, to put up with the extra stress.

He had to prepare me for the next phase which took me to life in two or more lanes once again.

But before He could take me to a “broad place”, He had to make me go through a “narrow space.”

He wanted me to learn what it means to depend more on Him for provision. He needed me to make more time to draw closer to Him and feel His heartbeat. He forced me to work on strengthening our marriage.

When David says in Psalm 23: “He makes me lie down in green pastures”, I am struck by the expression “makes me lie down.” It is as though David were saying that voluntarily we would not lie down and rest, so the Good Shepherd makes us lie down!

Can you relate? Perhaps you too are finding yourself impatiently enduring life in the lone lane…involuntarily!

Take heart!

God’s desire is to take you to a broad place. You may simply be experiencing the narrowing before the broadening.