Unseen Footprints

In the exodus, God’s path led through the sea, not around it or over it, but through it. I prefer to avoid obstacles; but apparently God does not. In Psalm 77 we read -

Your path led through the sea,

your way through the mighty waters,

though your footprints were not seen.

Psalm 77:19

Yahweh does not normally lead his people away from difficulties, but through them. And that is reinforced by the next line, ‘your path led through … the mighty waters’.

The painting on the left was made by a 13-year old Haitian child. Haitians understand the concept of going 'through'. There is nothing trivial about the ordeals God requires of his people, but the gigantic fact is that God remains present with us no matter how overwhelming they may seem to us.

In Isaiah 43:2 Yahweh promised,

When you pass through the waters,

I will be with you;

and when you pass through the rivers,

they will not sweep over you

God is always present with us – and that reality is celebrated in my favorite line in this entire psalm – “even though your footsteps were not seen” or as the New Living Translation says it, a pathway no one knew was there."  v.19

God’s footsteps may not be visible, and we my be completely baffled by our situation, but the psalm concludes with the words 'You led your people like a flock, By the hand of Moses and Aaron. v.20

I love that - God himself may not be visible, but Moses and Aaron were. With apologies to the popular poem about 'Footprints', God’s presence is often evident to us in the form of human leaders and companions who ‘just happen to be there’ to accompany us through the difficult experiences of our lives.

Jesus is the ultimate expression of ‘God with us’, and he certainly didn’t live a charmed or stress-free life. He embodies the reality of God present among us in the midst of the uproar and mayhem we call everyday life.

Invisible God,
Thank you for all the ways you meet me in the turbulence of my life – and even though I cannot see anything as clearly as I would like, you open a pathway, not by making things simple and calm, but by sustaining me in the complexity and challenges of life. Draw near to all those who are experiencing desperate times today and open a pathway of hope for them - through your Son Jesus. Amen.