When the Wide Road is Closed and God Hands You a Sword
In Numbers 21, we encounter one of those stories that looks, at first glance, like a simple travel dispute. Israel, newly out of the wilderness, asked King Sihon of the Amorites for safe passage along the King’s Highway. They promised not to touch his field or vineyards, not to drink from his wells. They pledge to be polite guests on the international trade route. But the request is denied and instead of an easy passage, they find themselves yet in another battle.
This is far more than ancient history. It's an exact mirror of our own journeys: the temptation to take the easy road, the disappointment when it's blocked, and the discovery that God's way often means stepping into responsibility we would rather avoid.
The Geography of the King’s Highway
The Hebrew phrase is בְּדֶרֶךְ־הַמֶּלֶךְ (bə-derekh ha-melekh) - literally, “the way of the king.”
בְּ (bə) = on/along
דֶּרֶךְ (derekh) = road, path, way (from “to tread”)
הַ (ha) = the
מֶלֶךְ (melekh) = king
The King’s Highway was a major trade and military route running from the Gulf of Aqaba, up through Edom, Moab, Ammon, and Bashan, all the way to Damascus - about 1,200 km in total. This road connected Egypt with Mesopotamia. Merchants, armies, and envoys had used it for centuries.
Israel wanted to travel just the section between the Arnon River (Wadi Mujib) and the Jabbok River (Wadi Zarqa) - roughly 100–140 km. For a nation-sized caravan moving 15–20 km per day with flocks and baggage, this was a week’s journey at most. .
The King's Highway was the obvious choice. The road was safe, known, and under royal protection.
Why Avoid Fields, Vineyards, and Wells?
Their pledge not to touch fields, vineyards, or wells wasn’t just courtesy. Sounds a bit like overkill.
Fields were a family’s daily bread.
Vineyards were long-term wealth and legacy.
Wells were survival in the desert.
In the ancient world, fields, vineyards, and wells were inheritance. To touch them was to rob another man's future.
So Israel was essentially saying:
We won’t act like raiders. We’ll stick to the wide road. We’ll keep to ourselves. We’ll behave.
Almost a "goody-two-shoes" mentality.
On the surface, it was the “good” option, the moral high road. But God blocked it. Why? Because His plan was not for Israel to politely tiptoe through another man’s land. His plan was for them to inherit territory.
When Responsibility Is Really Avoidance
Here’s the paradox: sometimes we disguise avoidance as responsibility. We think we're being mature by taking the safe, mapped-out road. We convince ourselves that walking the familiar path is obedience.
Israel’s version of responsibility: stay in the lane, follow the safe path, prove they’re disciplined.
God’s version of responsibility: step out, face conflict, carry authority, and own new ground.
This is what we often do with accountability as well. We think the only way to be responsible, is to ask someone else to hold us accountable. But it only means asking someone else to manage us:
Keep me accountable. Remind me when I drift. Make sure I do what I said.
It looks spiritual. But often, it’s outsourcing. It’s letting someone else carry the weight of our actions.
True accountability is not about handing over the steering wheel of your life. It’s about owning it. Like Israel, we have to face the battles ourselves.
Israel wanted the King's Highway because someone else (the king) would bear the burden of borders, order and safety. They'd simply walk through without the weight of accountability and responsibility.
It feels safer to outsource responsibility.
The Neuroscience of the Easy Road
Why do we crave the King’s Highway in the first place? Neuroscience gives us some clues.
The brain is wired for efficiency and safety. It prefers predictable routes, familiar patterns, and paths of least resistance. This is why habits, even unhealthy ones, are so hard to break. They’re efficient, known neural pathways.
When we consider stepping off the familiar road into the unknown, the brain often triggers fear and resistance. It labels uncertainty as danger.
So when Israel looked at the King’s Highway, their brains said:
This is the safe, efficient way. Take it.
But God wanted to rewire their mindset. He wanted them to learn that security doesn’t come from the familiar path. It comes from His presence and promise.
From Scarcity to Abundance
Choosing the King’s Highway was a scarcity mindset: “We can’t afford to upset anyone. Let’s stay small. Let’s just pass through.”
But God was calling Israel into abundance: “Don’t just pass through. Take the land. It’s yours.”
Scarcity mindset = play safe, avoid risk, outsource responsibility, live small.
Abundance mindset = own responsibility and , embrace risk, take ground, live large under God’s promise.
This is why God sometimes blocks the easy route in our lives. Not because He wants us to struggle for the sake of struggling, but because He wants us to expand into abundance.
Modern Parallels
So how does this hit us today?
Accountability
Easy road: Ask someone else to hold me accountable so I can stay passive.
God’s road: I take ownership of my choices. I build structures and habits that reflect maturity.
Business or Leadership
Easy road: Copy others’ models, play it safe, avoid risk.
God’s road: Innovate, step into responsibility, and create new territory.
Spiritual Life
Easy road: Keep up appearances, make promises, act “good.”
God’s road: Step into growth that requires courage, faith, and obedience.
Conclusion
The King’s Highway looked like the perfect solution: safe, mapped out, under another’s authority. Israel promised to behave, to be disciplined, to play nice. But God said no. He blocked the easy road and forced them into battle - not to punish them, but to grow them.
The same principle applies to us. What we call responsibility may sometimes be avoidance. What we call accountability may actually be outsourcing. And what we call safety may actually be smallness.
God doesn’t want us to pass politely through life on someone else’s road. He wants us to own responsibility, step into abundance, and take the territory He’s promised.
Because in the end, the wide, familiar road may look safe. But the road God calls us to - even when it’s narrow, risky, and contested - is the road to inheritance.
Enjoy the day!
Petrolene
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P.S. Still tempted to take the “easy road” and not sure which path is really yours? My Business Readiness Assessment will help you find your footing, discover exactly where you are on your journey, and show you the next step so you can stop just passing through and start taking territory.
