BibleProject Annual 2025 - Flipbook - Page 59
But in another way, following God’s path into those waters must have felt
like trekking into death. We don’t usually walk right into the sea, even if
we’re really good swimmers. The water just goes too deep and too far; we’d
never make it. And remember, it was the middle of the night! Tracking God’s
“footsteps” in the dark with all that wind and water (anyone hear echoes of
Genesis 1:2?) would have been nearly impossible.
The poet of Psalm 77 invites us to ponder a paradox: God opened a clear,
wide path. But once the people committed to that way, God’s footsteps
could not be traced. They just had to keep walking in the direction God
showed them, trusting each next step to God. Apparently, God’s way is both
obvious and hard to nail down, which explains why we usually feel a mix of
clarity and mystery whenever we try to follow God’s path.
This is so different from how we humans make paths. We build roads that
take the path of least resistance and that go over hills, across fields, and,
most often, around large bodies of water. We only make a road through the
waters (i.e., a tunnel), when there is no other way. But God’s way seldom
takes the path of least resistance.
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