God Who Knows My Way Ahead

When I came across this verse, it brought to mind a strange story a member of my family told me a few years back about his son.

The teenage son in the family had invited a number of his student friends down from university to his parents’ cottage in Cornwall where they planned to have a barbeque on the beach. They gathered at the house and made a fairly noisy descent through the steep woods and along the narrow little path that threaded among the trees, down to the beach below. That was fine. The friends had a great evening and sat around the fire until, of course, it was pitch black. No-one seemed to have thought about lights, and no-one seemed sure about how to find the path back again. However, one of the students was blind, and he led the others through the woods, up the steep hillside and safely back to the house.

I think I remembered this story because it seemed so bizarre. It was the blind student who led the way for all the sighted students. But, of course, it wasn’t at all strange when I thought about it. To the blind student the darkness was not an issue.
And the great thing is that God, like the blind student, is not fazed by the dark. Darkness makes no difference to Him. Psalm 139 says about God: ‘even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you’ (Psalm 139:12).

Here we are, with a New Year beginning, and not one of us has any idea what is actually going to happen to us in the next few months. We may have huge expectations for ourselves this year. Or maybe we have terrible fears and premonitions about the year ahead: perhaps very hidden fears for our health, our families, or the world situation. Whatever is coming, we can’t see in the dark and God can. Only God knows what the future holds.

'When my spirit faints within me, it is You who know my way.’ We also can know that confident place with God, whatever is happening to us or around us. Someone once said, “I don’t know what the future holds, but I know Who holds the future”. Yes! And I can be safe with God.

Prayer: God, thank You that You are there in every dark place of my present and my future, and You know the way ahead for me. When I’m lost, when things are scary and wobbly; when the future looks dark and very uncertain, You are there. Thank You that You are my Safe Place and I can trust You. Amen.