The Way-Maker…

 

Then Moses said to the LORD, "See, You say to me, 'Bring up this people.' But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.' Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people."

And He said, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."

Then he said to Him, "If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth."

So the LORD said to Moses, "I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name."

And he said, "Please, show me Your glory."

Then He said, "I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." But He said, "You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live." And the LORD said, "Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.—Exodus 33:12-23

There are certain days in the year that are always difficult for me to get through. I don’t actively think about them or even know that I am aware that they are coming.  My heart, however, always does. It always remembers.  Weeks before the actual dates arrive my heart begins to remember and grieve. The grief is ongoing because what causes it is still very much ongoing. For the most part, God has enabled me by His grace to thank Him daily for it because He has used it in my life to make me cling to Him in love and gratitude. Because of my trials, I know Him infinitely better than I would have otherwise known him. Because of my trials, I understand these words of Paul better than I otherwise would have.

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.—Philippians 3:7-11

I agree and commiserate with Moses when he says this in the precious passage above:

"If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. 

As believers, Jesus, the Way-Maker, goes before us and makes for us a way through the wilderness of this life. He is our Immanuel…our God who is with us.  John 14 tells us that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. No one, John says, comes to the Father, except through Him. It is Jesus that hedges us behind and before. It is His hand that is always upon us and His Spirit that dwells in us as we make our “way” through this world.  God’s covenant love, His lovingkindness, is ours forever because as His children, He has pledged to never leave us nor forsake us.  In Christ, we stand permanently in His favor or grace.  Like Moses in the above passage, we have also found grace in His sight. He knows us by name and has made His home within our hearts. The very glory of God dwells within us. Because our Immanuel is with us His “way” is with us as well.  

Beloved…It is Jesus that gets me through and will get me through the difficult days and seasons of my life. Make your way through this world with the Way-Maker.  Keep His word. Surrender to the great love with which He loves you and make His footsteps your pathway. As Alan Redpath has said:

“A throne is God’s purpose for you; a cross is God’s path for you; faith is God’s plan for you. The arrow of God on the target may leave a scar on your heart. In the years to come you may look back upon this time and your eyes fill with tears as you remember the moment when the arrow went beyond. But the Savior is alongside: He is reminding you that the blood which He shed for you, which takes you within the veil—to the place of constant access to His presence—is the blood that takes you outside the camp to the place of consecrated availability for His plan.”

For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes,

And I have walked in Your truth.—Psalm 26:3

Show me Your ways, O LORD;

Teach me Your paths.

Lead me in Your truth and teach me,

For You are the God of my salvation;

On You I wait all the day.—Psalm 25:4-5