THE REFORMED WITNESS HOUR
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prca.orgDear radio friends,
What a
glorious comfort it is as we stand at the beginning of the year of the Lord
2008 to know that God leads us. In the
words of the hymn, “He leadeth me: O blessed thought! O words with heavenly comfort fraught! What e’er I do, wher-e’er I be, still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me.” This is
the comfort of the church of Jesus Christ exclusively, of those who have been
redeemed by God from the Egypt of sin.
God will control all that happens to His church and to His child in a
perfectly wise way to lead them to heavenly glory.
For the world, the
opposite is the case. We read in
Psalm 73
that “Thou castest them down to destruction; they
are set in slippery places.” The assurance
of the leading of God is given to a repentant child of God who is walking
humbly with God and seeking, by the grace of God, heaven. To such is the comfort that God will lead him
in this coming year. Take hold of that.
Are you aged? What happens if you get a stroke this
year? Are you a widow? Will you be further into your
loneliness? Are you afflicted with
diabetes? Perhaps you are a young couple
and you cannot have children. What about
your job? You have fears, perhaps, as a
parent, for your children in this world — what’s going to happen to them? Young people, are you afraid? To every child of God, whatever his life is,
the promise of God is that He will lead him in a perfect and wise way this
year.
Yet God’s leading
of us is so often hidden and apparently, to our perception, wrong, and we
cannot see it except by faith. That is what we learn in
Exodus 13:17-22,
which form the words of our text on this
first Sunday of the new year. Those words talk about Israel after God had
brought them up out of Egypt and how He chose to lead them to the land of
Canaan. Hard-hearted Pharaoh, as you
remember, would not let Israel go. In
ten plagues, Jehovah had devastated Egypt.
He has now brought Israel out of the land of Egypt, and they shall go on
to Canaan—to the land that was promised to Abraham. But the way that God will take them
there? Apparently it is all wrong. It is not the obvious one. He does not lead them as man would think.
That is also the
way that it shall be with us in this coming year. God will lead us. But He does not consult us or make us His
counselors. He will lead you this year
in ways that, perhaps, you would not choose, ways for which you cannot with the
human eye see the reason or the good.
For He declares that “My thoughts are not your thoughts; neither are my
ways your ways,” saith the Lord. “For as the heaven is higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” God will lead us for infinitely wise and good
reasons, but reasons that will not always be plain to us.
God will not lose
sight of the goal. He shall bring us at
last to glory and He shall lead us perfectly that way.
In the text to
which I referred, we read of the fact that, after bringing Israel out of the
house of bondage where they had suffered for four hundred years, God did not
then lead Israel to the promised land of Canaan by the most direct route. There was an obvious way to go from Egypt to
Canaan. We read,
it was “through the way of the land of the Philistines … that was near.” There was a path or road that lay along the
coast of the Mediterranean Sea connecting the land of Canaan to Egypt. It was a highway, a road,
that was existing. It had much in
its favor. It was the shortest. It could, perhaps, take a week or two for two
million people on foot to walk it. One
could hardly get lost. It offered a
plain path.
There was one
drawback. It led through the land of the
Philistines and, while that was something to consider, for the Philistines were
steeped in war, yet, what could those Philistine warlords do to the people of
the God who had just wrecked ancient Egypt with His ten plagues? You see, everything pointed to go in that
direction. Had not Israel suffered
enough? Was not
the easiest and the shortest route to
There was another
way to Canaan, if you wanted to call it that.
But it probably would never have entered Moses’ head. It made no sense. It would be to turn south and to enter, as we
read, “the way of the wilderness of the Red sea.” This wilderness was avoided by everyone who
could. There was no water or shade, and
the possibility of getting lost was real.
Mountains stood on both sides, leading one finally to the Red Sea. And the Red Sea was not a stream. For two million people it was
impassable. And if somehow one would
manage to get across, he would only come to another wilderness even more
desolate and remote than the previous one.
There would be no place for families with children and old people and
cattle. And if you would lead a people
in there, then for sure the nations of the world would laugh at you. And they did.
They would say that Moses brought them out to have them all die in the
desolate sands. But if, by a miracle,
finally things turned out, it would take at least a year and a half to lead
people by that route to Canaan’s borders.
We read that “God
led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was
near … but God led the people about through the way of the wilderness of the
Red sea.” That is the route, the
difficult route that God chose for Israel.
How utterly foolish this must have appeared to Israel. I can imagine one of the leaders of the tribe
of Judah or Ephraim, when he sensed the direction that Moses was pointing the
columns of Israel, when he saw that they were going to the right instead of to
the left, that perhaps he ran to the front and came to Moses and said, “No, not
this way, Moses.” I can hear the words
of a wife in the tribe of Zebulon saying to her husband, “You go up there and
you talk to that man. We can’t possibly
go this way. My father is aged. He can’t walk through a wilderness. We have little children and babies. We can’t go that way. Go tell him, ‘Moses, you made a mistake. You’ve got us heading in the wrong direction. Don’t you understand that there is a plain, a
short, a marked-out path that leads along the
Only for Moses to
respond to these men: “I’ve made no
mistake. God, who leads us by the pillar
of cloud and fire by night, has led us into the way of the wilderness.” For Jehovah, not Moses, led
them. We read in
Deuteronomy 32:10,
“He (Jehovah) led them and instructed them and kept them as the apple of
his eye.” The One who created geography;
the One who knows each valley and mountain pass; the One who, from on high,
sees and knows all led them into the wilderness. He led them in what we would consider the
“long” way, the wrong way, the difficult way, the
impossible way. But He led them the
right way. He led them the only
way. He led them the best way, the way
that leads to Canaan. It is not
optional. For He is
God.
The way that leads
to glory is not the way that your flesh would choose. It is not the way that human wisdom would
pick. But it is the way that God leads. And God leads through the wilderness. Do you understand?
That is true today
for the church and for you and for me.
It does not mean, of course, that we would decide, in the light of this
Word of God, that if we are going to be spiritual in 2008, we must make
decisions that make it hard for ourselves in the earthly sense. No, God leads. And God is telling us that what human flesh
sees as the easiest, the shortest, way to reach glory is not the way to glory
at all. But the way that He leads now,
the way that is so often contrary to our own flesh, the long way, the difficult
way, that is the way that indeed brings us to
glory. It is the way that is designed to
show His sufficiency and His wisdom.
This is contrary to
the health, wealth, and success gospel that many preach today — that God shows
His love simply by delivering you from all of your adversities and heartaches
and sicknesses. That is not the Word of
God. No, God leads in ways that are
often difficult and mysterious to us. He
may lead you in ways that are difficult for your health. Maybe with your child, your
teenager. He may lead you in
mental difficulties, emotional difficulties.
There may be problems in your marriage and you need to work at those
problems every day. Maybe He is going to
make you more lonely.
Maybe you are going to struggle with insecurities. And for the church, the way shall not be one
of ease. There shall be constant
difficulties.
Instead of health,
the Lord may bring sickness. Instead of
prosperity, He may lead in ways of difficulty.
Instead of peace of soul, He may cause you to pass through
depression. He may lead you in the way
that we think is all wrong. But He leads
perfectly.
First of all, we
read that God said, “Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and
they return to Egypt.” He is referring
to the fact that the Philistines lived along the path of the easy route to
Canaan — and that the Philistines were at that time too strong for Israel. Yes, of course, God could sweep the
Philistines aside. But God does not use
His power simply for the ease of His people.
God uses His power for a purpose.
God does not simply remove the obstacles in our life. But He wills that by His grace we contend
with them. And He knows there are
certain things that Israel is not ready to face. They have to be taught.
God knew that if
Israel had immediately, after leaving Egypt, bumped into the warriors of the
Philistines and gotten their nose bloodied, they would run all the way back to
Egypt and hide. In other words, the Lord
was saying, there are temptations, there are struggles, for which the
Israelites were not yet prepared by the grace of God to face. So God turned them aside into the way of the
wilderness.
So also there are
certain circumstances and situations that are too strong for you right now and
would overcome you. You might not think
so. But God leads you, and He promises
that He will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able to
bear. You may want the short and the
easy way. As a young man, as a young
woman, you want it easy. As a husband,
you want it easy. You see the way of
wealth and health and all the plans that you have dreamed about. That is the best way. That is the way in which your soul is going
to be happiest. And that is the way you
will be able to worship God the best, you say.
But God knows that if He leads you that way, you will not be able to
stand. There are battles for which you
are not ready — battles that at this point in your life would mean defeat. So God does not lead you
the way that you think best because God deals with you according to your
infirmities. He knows your
strength and He knows the obstacles and will not bring you to that place where
you cannot stand.
But
more. We read that God led the
people about through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea for a
reason. We know that reason was that the
wilderness was to be the place of preparation, in order that Israel might be
prepared for Canaan. It became very
plain that by nature they still coveted Egypt, they still coveted this world,
and they needed purification. That is
why God leads them the way of the Red Sea.
That is why God brings them across a Red Sea and they cannot go
back. That is why for forty years He
will chastise them in the wilderness and teach them and care for them. When, at last, they enter into the land of
Canaan, they must know that they enter it by grace. If Israel went to Canaan by the shortest
paved way; if God would simply swat the Philistines out of their way and they
would appear in Canaan two weeks out of the land of Egypt, imagine that! How would Israel then enter into the land of
Canaan? Well, they would walk in with a
proud swagger, thinking they deserved the place.
Beloved, God has
redeemed us in the blood of His Son Jesus Christ. He has called us to glory. But now one thing He does in all of our days
is to teach us that our eternal reward is entirely of His grace. And it takes the wilderness to do that. It is only through the desert that Israel
came to know themselves as the least deserving of all people, as murmurers, lusters, complainers,
and people who did not have a spiritual memory.
For us it is the same. We read in
I Peter 5:10,
“But the
God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus,
after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish,
strengthen, settle you.” The process of chastening, of reproving, of
humbling us is good. It is when you have
been brought face to face with your own weakness and sin, it is then that grace
appears in all of its luster. And that is how God is going to take you to
Canaan. The pathway is called Lessons in
Grace. It is called the Way of Holiness. And it is calculated by God to bring you to
dead ends, to places where your strength is spent and your hope is gone and
your vision is lost. Only then will He
carry you over the Jordan.
What we seek in
life and what God seeks for us are often two different things. We seek short, easy, and direct ways to our
pleasure. But God does not seek our
earthly pleasure. He seeks us.
And that is the
encouragement that we have. We have the
encouragement that is the absolutely sure promise that we shall be brought to
Canaan.
We read that Moses
took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had “straitly
sworn the children of
Canaan was a
picture of eternal glory, a picture of the salvation of the body and soul of
the believer. That was God’s
promise: You will be there, and nothing
that death brings upon you will bar the way of your entering. That is God’s encouragement.
God says, “I’m
going to lead you in ways that you cannot figure out, but I’m bringing you
home. And I tell you that nothing will
be lost — not your bones, not anything that Christ has redeemed. You are going to cross over the Jordan. The way that I lead you is not going to
fizzle out, it is not going to end up as the dreams of
this world. But you, exactly through the
way that I lead you, are going to be brought home to eternal glory.” There is nothing that can ever prevent that,
for it is the promise of the eternal God.
Then the
encouragement is this: that God will
preserve us with His faithful presence.
“And the Lord went before
them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a
pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night.” A pillar of cloud now appears and the pillar
of fire appears before Israel. And God
makes it very visible that He is with them, that He is leading them, and that
no one could mistake this: that He
Himself had become their Guide.
Now take that
comfort for this year. If God is with
you, a desert becomes a garden. If God
is with you, a widow’s table becomes a feast.
If God is with you, a nursing home becomes a portal to a king’s
palace. If God is with you, sickness
becomes a badge of honor; and trial and sorrow become things that we kiss. He is faithful. For “He took not away the
pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the
people.” He never left them for a
moment. He was always there. That is our encouragement!
“I will not leave
you, I will not forsake you. Nothing in
this year will cause Me to do that. I will be with you, I will lead you.” We know this, for God swears to those whom He
has redeemed in the blood of Jesus Christ that, come what may in the year 2008,
“I will lead you, I will not forsake you, I will take you by the way of My eternal wisdom to glory.
I will guide, I will lead, I will direct, I will keep you from things
that are too strong. I will show you My grace.”
He leadeth me; O blessed thought! He is with me. And so we may conclude: “Surely grace and lovingkindness
shall forever follow me, till, my days of life all ended, evermore my home
shall be, O Jehovah, in Thy holy house with Thee.”
Let us pray.
Father, bind Thy
Word unto our hearts and give us to submit and to trust in Thee, the faithful,
wise God of our salvation. In Jesus’
name we pray, Amen.
Last modified: Jan. 11, 2008