The psalmist had been recalling what God had done for His people in the past. He recounted how the Israelites, under Moses, were freed from enslavement in Egypt, miraculously delivered through the Red Sea, and then led through the wilderness towards the promised land.
But this verse struck--and in particular these words--struck me: "yet your footprints were unseen."
Isn't that so often how our God works and moves? Quietly. Hidden. Unseen and undetected...until suddenly his relentless and indefatigable handiwork is revealed.
But what are we doing all the while "his footprints were unseen?" Well, all too often, while His unseen hand is painting a masterpiece, we're doubting, worrying, fussing, and fretting. We quickly cry out--doesn't He see? Doesn't He care? Why won't He act?
No, the problem lies not with our God but with our vision. What we cannot see, we do not believe. But that's the antithesis of faith--"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." (Heb.11:1)
Faith is believing without seeing. Faith is believing that even when we cannot see, God is faithfully and perfectly moving things into place, doing things we cannot imagine, and bringing all things to their best and ideal conclusion.
I'm learning that if we want to experience the kind of rest that means deep soul contentment, true joy, and worry-less trust, we've got to believe God's Word. Choose to place our trust in what the Lord of the universe has said rather than in feelings or inclinations or opinions. We've got to base our lives on something--will it be the changeless truth of God's Word or our ever-changing emotions and ideas?
John Piper says this of Hebrews 11:1--"Faith has at least these two components: one is the conviction that there is a great unseen God who exists absolutely and does not depend upon us in the least. And the other is the assurance that this great unseen God is a God of love and bounty and free and sovereign grace for all who seek Him in truth."
Yes, even when his "footprints were unseen," God has always been at work in this world. And even when his footprints seem hidden in our lives, He is just as surely and certainly working and moving...for our good and His glory.
Our first morning in the mountains, we awoke to gaze out over the valley from our porch and saw...absolutely nothing. We could see nada--save a thick, impenetrable wall of fog. Quite literally, we could glimpse nothing but a complete grey whiteout in front of our faces. There was no evidence of any kind of world beyond that fog--not even of the yard right before us.
Yet was that yard still there? Were all those trees still there? Had the valley below disappeared simply because we couldn't see it? Of course not! How ridiculous a notion to think that our limited vision and perception could alter the immovable truth of what in reality lay out there beyond the fog. We couldn't glimpse it...but it was all still there in all it's resplendent glory--the lush green of the trees, the beautiful blue of the valley. All still there.
One morning we glimpsed nothing but a blanket of thick, wet, impenetrable grey. But this morning we saw this--
Oh might we remember--God is always there. He is always working. He is always good and gracious. He always has the perfect plan and the ideal way...whether we see it or not. Whether we "feel" it or not.
Give us the faith, Father, to see the unseen and to trust the truth of Your Word. Clear the fog of our sin and unbelief that we might experience the abundant, joyful, contented, peaceful, purposeful life You came to give us.
To God be the glory.
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