God Knows the Way

As I was growing up, I often sang the chorus, "My Lord knows the way through the wilderness, all I have to do is follow." This refers, I suppose, to the experience of the Israelites spending forty years in desert surroundings after they left Egypt. I've been in some pretty bleak places where I felt lost, even though I actually wasn't: a treeless pasture I hiked through in north Texas, a busy foreign city where I didn't speak the language of the people, a just-barely-marked two-lane highway through a Washington forest, even a cornfield maze in Kansas—but never in a desert. I really dislike not knowing where I am, so I can't help but think how lost those wandering people must have felt. There were no roads at all and no signs, and they could be pretty sure there were no National Park guides or emergency vehicles! Except—

God knew the way! All they had to do was follow. They didn't like that very much at times. In fact, they complained a lot, and disobeyed the leadership God had appointed, and decided it wasn't really God who had delivered them from slavery after all. Still, God faithfully led the younger generation into the land He had promised to Abraham and his descendants.

That old chorus has been a stabilizing thought when I have encountered some "wilderness" experiences in my life. Just as I want to see where I am in my natural surroundings, I really would like to know what lies ahead in my spiritual walk too. That doesn't always happen! I have to rely on God, for He knows the way.

Recounting another part of the exodus, the Psalmist writes, "Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters—a pathway no one knew was there!" (Psalm 77:19) Whether we are looking at trackless desert sand or foamy waters—or our own disappointing circumstance or financial difficulty—God knows the way. It is actually already there; many times we just can't see it!

MaryMartha

Scripture quotation is taken from The Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. United States of America. All rights reserved.