Depending upon your age and experience in life, your definition of a forced march may range anywhere from the Bataan Death March of World War II to that second turn around the track at school. Whatever picture those words conjure up in your mind, forced is forced and march is march. The spectrum may be broad but it involves movement you didn’t choose or anticipate and being told to do something you weren’t planning on or may even be resisting.
The early chapters of Genesis record two forced marches and both were orchestrated by God for a purpose. One was a result of disobedience and the other was a result of one man’s response of faith.
Events leading to the first began when Noah walked off the Ark. He and his family stepped into the new world with the monumental task of obeying God’s command to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” (Genesis 9:1) Instead, Noah’s kids and grandkids chose to defy God. They stayed together on the plains of Shinar and built a tower to heaven to make a name for themselves so they wouldn’t be scattered. (Genesis 11:4) Bad decision. God intervened and the resulting confusion led to a forced march. The Tower of Babel had to go—and so did the people. Wonder why we say people are babbling when we can’t understand them? God confused the people’s language so they couldn’t continue working together and “the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth.” (v. 7-8)
The next chapter records the second forced march. Genesis 12:1-4 tells us that God told Abraham to leave his country and family and go to a place that God would show him. No AAA to plan his trip, no MapQuest, no GPS coordinates; just God’s clear voice telling him to pack his bags and get going. And he did. Abraham wasn’t perfect, but he had moments of great faith. And it started when he took that first step. I don’t know if physically the march was any easier for Abraham than it had been for those who left their sacred tower years before, but there was one key difference that would have made it emotionally easier. Abraham wanted to go.
Our lives are filled with forced marches, some long and some short, and God has a purpose for each one. We can go kicking and screaming, complaining and grumbling or we can go with joy because we know God is in control. Why is it easy to trust God with our eternal destiny but not the day-to-day business? I have no problem believing God will one day bring me to heaven to be with Him. It’s sometimes the rest of the day that I can’t quite trust Him with. I have my own agenda and, of course, I know how to accomplish it. Am I babbling? God has a reason for all that happens, for all that He asks us to walk through. We may not know where we’re headed or how we’re going to get there, but we know we’re headed in the right direction because we can trust God.
This walk of faith is something that begins new each day and Lamentations 3:22-24 tells us why it works this way, “The Lord’s loving kindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness.” I’m not real big on forced marches, but if given the choice, I’ll choose to obey and walk with God anytime.