God's road

8 And a great road will go through that once deserted land.

It will be named the Highway of Holiness.

Evil-minded people will never travel on it.

It will be only for those who walk in God’s ways;

fools will never walk there.

9 Lions will not lurk along its course,

nor any other ferocious beasts.

There will be no other dangers.

Only the redeemed will walk on it.

Isaiah 35

My husband and I were on our way to Missouri to see his grandmother. We'd left late and found ourselves driving with weary eyes and dark roads. Traveling along a major highway, we accidentally took a detour and found ourselves lost...very lost. It was evening and because we were in the country, hardly a headlight or streetlamp was lit. The only thing guiding us were the headlights on our own car and the occasional glimpse of the road ahead. The sides were lined with trees that were thick and ominous, and the few houses we passed looked like scenes from a horror movie.

It was then that I started to get scared. What if we got a flat tire out here? What if our car breaks down? Would we be safe? I turned to Kevin who was calm and collected and he reassured me that the way was clear and eventually this had to lead to a main road or highway. I relaxed, and sure enough, that little road emptied out to the highway again.

Life feels a little like that sometimes. Things seem dark and ominous and sometimes we just feel lost---scared about the unknown. That's what was most scary on that tiny road in Missouri--the unknown. What was behind those trees? What was lurking in the dark? I imagine this is how the Israelites felt as God created a path through the Red Sea, turning to see the fierce and looming water on each side that could, in an instant, crush them.

But God promised us something. A clear path. A path that, though it might be full of dangers around it, wouldn't devour us. The path that we walk, when we accept his salvation and walk in it, is not a path of scary unknowns. It's a path set out for us in love. Like the Israelites path through the Sea, those waves are held back from those He loves.

While that doesn't mean we won't face hardships and pain, it means that like those waves, they do not have the power to crush us. He makes a way through the pain and loss to perfect grace and love.