A Pathway You Don’t Even Know Is There
Have you ever felt trapped with no way out? Your finances are a disaster, bankruptcy seems right around the corner. You have an addiction and life just keeps spiraling deeper and deeper into a dark hole. Or it could be your marriage, an out of control teenager, a serious maybe even life threatening illness, a dead end job, or any number of things that make you feel like there is no way out.
It is as if you are walking through the woods on the well-defined path when all of a sudden you find yourself lost and wondering how you will make it out alive. One minute you are enjoying the beautiful trees and foliage, the next moment you find yourself off the path, completely lost, staring into darkness. You try to retrace your steps, but soon convince yourself that you’ve passed the same rock twice. You seem to be getting nowhere fast and there seems to be no way out.
In the Bible, in Exodus 14, there is a story about one of those moments. The Israelites were set free after 400 years in slavery. As they marched to their freedom, beginning to no longer feel trapped, suddenly that path to freedom seemed to disappear. On both sides were tall mountains, in front of them was a body of water, and behind them was an angry army in pursuit of them (because Pharaoh had changed his mind about their freedom.) This was certainly one of those moments when it would have been easy to try and take matters into their own hands, but the Israelites chose to trust God, even when they saw no path ahead of them.
The story goes on to tell us that God parted the Red Sea and the people walked across dry ground, safely reaching the other shore before the sea engulfed the army and killed them. Years later, the Israelites looked back upon that event and sang the words found in Psalm 77:19, “Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters – a pathway no one knew was there” (NLT).
[If you know the story of the parting of the Red Sea (Exodus 13:17-14:31), then you know that God initially led the Israelites away from trouble. Then to a roadblock. After that, God led them on a path that nobody knew was there. “’I am the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.’ Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick” (Isaiah 43:15-17).]
So, even when you see no way out, and all you see are trees and overgrown brush in every direction, trust God and have faith that He will make a pathway, maybe even one you don’t know is there. I will end with this – “For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you” (Isaiah 41:13).
Word of caution: when we have unconfessed sin, it creates a broken fellowship with God, thus sometimes He remains silent (Psalm 66:18-20) and we walk unguided.
