We’ve all been there. Even in our age of the GPS, sometimes we get lost. Especially in new places. And how many times haven’t we given the excuse for being late, “I’m sorry, I got lost. I’ve never been here before!” To which the general response is an understanding, “No problem. The roads in these parts can be pretty tricky!”
It’s logical, right? I mean how can we be expected to navigate areas without a bobble if we’ve never been there before? No one, and especially not God, would expect that of us!
And so we make our way through life. Troubles come and we are often asked to trod paths we’ve never experienced walking before, and we become used to slipping up, picking ourselves back up, dusting ourselves off, and saying, “Ooops! I’ve never done this before!”
I doubt that any serious Christian actually desires to slip up, to sin. But it happens. God knows this, He loves us anyway, and He forgives us. The big question is this: Is the fact that we’ve never walked this particular path of life before an excuse to slip up? To be disobedient? To lose faith?
I’ve always thought it was a pretty good excuse. After all, how could God expect me to get things right the first time when I’ve never done this before? And so often I find myself saying, “I’m so sorry, Lord. I let that worry slip in, I took things into my own hands, but Lord, You know I’ve never had to deal with this before! Thanks for understanding!”
The story of Israel crossing the Jordan River is a prime example of this. Although their forefathers had crossed the Red Sea, this generation of Israelites had not experienced that miracle personally. Besides, this wasn’t a sea. I always imagine that a “dip” was made in the sea, and the Israelites walked through with a wall of water on one side and a wall of water on the other side. But the Jordan, it was a river! A flowing body of water that, interestingly enough, was at flood state: “for the Jordan overflows all its banks all the days of harvest…” (Joshua 3:15b NASB). If God were to make a dry path for the people, the flowing water would have to go somewhere! And the Bible says where it went: “then the waters which were flowing down from above stood and rose up in one heap, a great distance away at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan…” (Joshua 3:16a NASB). No, we can perhaps criticize Israel for their lack of faith (though we are no better!), but I don’t think anyone would criticize them for thinking, “Oh boy, I hope I get this right! I’ve never crossed a flooded river on dry land before!”
No, God didn’t expect them, on their own, to do this thing they had never done before without making a mistake. He did, however, expect them to do it right… He gave them the solution before they even set out! Take a look: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God with the Levitical priests carrying it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it … so that you may know the way by which you shall go, for you have not passed this way before.” (Joshua 3:3, 4b NASB)!
Let’s remember that God was well aware of the human tendency towards disobedience. He knew they had never done anything like this before, and before they could err, He gave them the solution! Follow the Ark of the Covenant! That way, they would have no excuse for not knowing which way to go!
That’s really nice, Lord. We are so happy you did this for Israel. We, however, still have an excuse! We’re being asked to go places we’ve never been before, and there is no Ark of the Covenant to go before us!
True enough; but we actually have something even better. We have Jesus! In the same way that keeping their eyes on the Ark of the Covenant would show ancient Israel the way in unknown territory, Jesus is there. If we fix our eyes on Him, we, too, will not go astray, no matter how foreign the territory is to us! “…let’s run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfecter of the faith, ” (Hebrews 12:1b-2a NASB)!
No, the fact that we’ve never walked this path before isn’t an excuse for disobedience. God has given us the way to overcome. We must keep our eyes on Jesus so that no matter what the circumstances, no matter how foreign to us the path we are required to walk becomes, we “…will know the way by which [we] should go…” (Joshua 3:3 NASB)!
Let’s remember that no matter what we are going through, Jesus has been there: “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things just as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15 NASB). He knows the way, and as long as we follow, looking neither to the left nor to the right, we, too, will be triumphant. “I’ve never been there before” may be a viable excuse between humans, but it doesn’t hold even the tiniest bit of water for God because Jesus does know the way!
Just how does one accomplish this? I mean, if you are in a car and you don’t know where to go, but you are with someone who does, it’s easy enough to say, “You lead, I’ll follow you!” But following Jesus is a bit more abstract!
Here are a few tips:
1. “Rejoice always…” (1 Thess. 5:16 NASB) — No matter what you have in front of you, rejoice in the Lord! There is always something to rejoice about! Our job is to seek it! No, we don’t have to rejoice that we are in these particular circumstances, but we can rejoice that He loves us, that He has walked this way before and He goes before us! We can rejoice that He will guide us through!
2. “…pray without ceasing,” (1 Thess. 5:17 NASB) — The more unknown the path, the more turbulent the waters, the more severe the storm of life, the more we need to pray! It is pretty hard to pray without having our eyes on God!
3. “…in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thess. 5:18 NASB). It’s simple, really! Just say thank you! This doesn’t mean we have to thank Him for the trouble we find ourselves in; but we can always find things to thank Him for. Thank Him for sunshine and for people who support you. Thank Him for salvation. Thank Him for food to eat and water to drink. If you face the death of a loved one, you don’t have to thank God they died; but you can thank Him they were in your life in the first place! Just say thanks!
No, “I’ve never walked this way before” is not an excuse in God’s eyes, because He has walked this way before, and He has promised to go before us. Our job is to keep our eyes upon Him by rejoicing, by praying without ceasing, and by give thanks in all situations! Whatever trials you find yourself in right now, why not give it a try?
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart
Author, Moderator, Acting Director, Answers2Prayer Ministries
