God did not lead them by the most direct route. That would have taken them through the Philistine country, and land that contained Egyptian fortresses. Now given the great miracles that God had performed, not to mention the even greater ones He would do in the future, one might wonder why this presented a problem to God. The reason the Bible gives is that God was concerned that the Israelites might face war, change their minds, and return to Egypt.
There is always an element of choice in the plans that God has for us. We have to choose to follow Him. The Israelites had to choose to follow God and go to the promised land. What concerned God was that if they had gone the shorter way they would have been able to turn and run. Now we know that going the Red Sea route led them to face an even greater problem, but in that case they had no choice but to stick with God. Sometimes God leads us along paths so that the only way through is to trust Him. It is true that most of us only live by faith when we have exhausted every other option.
Moses took Joseph's bones with him, in accordance with Joseph's instructions.
The people were constantly accompanied by the presence of God in the form of a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. God guided them along the way. We too can be confident that God will lead us along the way with His presence and guidance.
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