Years ago, we used to sing choruses at church on Sunday evenings using an overhead projector. The song leader would shuffle through the transparencies to find the song we would be singing and then lay it on the modern machine (at the time) that made it possible for us all to see the words on the screen in front of us.
One of the choruses we would often sing had this line in it—
God will make a way where there seems to be no way
That line has come to me often throughout my life. Can God make a way where there seems to be no way? Does He do this?
We believers know He most certainly does.
I was listening to a sermon the other day that my brother (Pastor Dean) had preached many years ago. In this sermon, he used an example I’ve been thinking about ever since. He said that as he was traveling one time, a mountain range suddenly rose ahead of him that looked quite impassable. From a distance, no road or way through or over it could be seen. But as he got closer, he saw the narrow road that led right through it. He reminded us that we can’t always see the way ahead of us but we know God will make one.
And then last night, of all things, I read a similar thing in a missionary biography I am currently reading.
The *story tells of three women who undertook the difficult task to get the Gospel out to northwest China and beyond. Their home base was the most inhabited town furthest west in China. But for eight months of the year they would travel, using the centuries old trade routes, to the villages and Gobi desert oases, in which resided hundreds of thousands who had never heard the Gospel.
As they traveled, they once came upon a mountain range that looked entirely impassable. But I’d rather share the author’s words (who is actually one of the women traveling)—
Suddenly, the road had turned up and led up to a towering range through which no outlet could be seen. They had trodden the rough stones of the foot-hills and nearly lost their way among the defiles [meaning: narrow passes or gorges], before the narrow opening of the mountain pass had come into sight. Now they suddenly emerged and saw all that lay behind in true perspective. The clearly marked road, which close at hand had been so hard to trace, was now quite unmistakable. Ahead, too, there was a way, though they could not quite see where it led. That matter nothing; the fiery, cloudy pillar had guided thus far and it was easy to rest in confidence for the future. *
As I have been reflecting on these very similar accounts of facing what looks to be an impassable mountain, I’ve been thinking about three things especially.
First, from a distance, we so often can’t see the “way”. To our dim eyes, we cannot see how we could possibly get through the trial that looms in front of us. Or that issue that has no solution. And yet, we just take the next step. We do the next right thing. And, eventually, God reveals the path we couldn’t see from a distance.
Sometimes, we get to the other side and we look back, not even knowing each single step was slowly leading us through. We thought we were still on the other side and here we had traversed through the mountain to the other side.
Other times, every step we take is hard and laborious. It feels like it will never end. But we cannot look forward to what life will be like a hundred steps down the road but, rather, need to keep taking the single step that is right in front of us.
Life becomes overwhelming when we look too far down the road. As the author wrote: God had guided thus far and that gives us confidence for the future.
I can think of things like that in my life. I really wondered how I would get through. And yet I did get through. Thanks to the Lord, I did walk through some very deep valleys and difficult trials, one step at a time.
You have had your own deep valleys and difficult trials. I’d rather guess many of you have had harder days than I can even imagine. But, even then, God is faithful to comfort and guide. It is the testimony I hear over and over again from those who, in faith and in submission to His will, have turned to God in their troubles.
Second, we can tend to make the mountains ranges about US. If we aren’t careful, we become self-centered as we traverse through our trials and troubles, And while there will always be something for us to learn in any trial, we must remember that God’s purposes are so intertwined and interwoven that He will have purposes and plans for our trial that far exceed it’s impact on just our life.
It is hard to imagine how many souls will be in heaven because of the testimony of a dying Christian. Or how much spiritual growth has taken place because of a believer watching another believer humbly and faithfully walk with God through an unimaginable trial.
It is only when we can think outside ourselves, that we can move beyond the doubt and the discouragement that threatens to overwhelm us.
And, third, and finally, is the goodness of God. Can God possibly be good—even in our grief and pain? Our natural, fleshly response is to base our belief of His goodness on our experience. If things are going well, we will proclaim His goodness. But it is in loss, disappointment, betrayal, grief, and pain where this is so much harder.
And yet…
If we respond in trust and faith, it is in these difficult circumstances that we comprehend a goodness of God that goes beyond our circumstances. We begin to understand His promises in a way not possible before the trial. We experience the love of our brothers and sisters in Christ in a way that wasn’t possible or necessary before the trial.
**But if not, He is still good
But if not, He is still kind
Though I may not understand Your purpose or Your plan
I will trust You, my Savior and my Friend
These lyrics, written by a heartbroken woman who longs to be a mama, are profound in their declaration.
Some treks through the mountain range last a long time and do not end in the way we hoped. Some trials seem to go on forever and when we get to the other side, another one looms right in front of us.
And yet, through it all, God is good.
Life can be so hard. But God is good. For God’s dear redeemed child, His grace and mercy abound.
This life is not all there is. We have a hope that supersedes our earthly fears and worries. We have strength for today that comes from the One, True God. And we have the promise that God will never leave us or forsake us.
These aren’t pie-in-the-sky beliefs based on a helpless, manmade god. These are beliefs based on the only TRUE GOD who has given us the TRUTH, found in His inerrant, inspired Word.
*Something Happened by Mildred Cable and Francesca French. (Please note that this book has been out of print for years and the only place I could find to read it was on Internet Archive. Not the most convenient way to read a book, but I can attest to the fact that it is possible!)
**This beautiful song can be found here.