MUSINGS

“THY WAY” In Psalm 77 Asaph makes two remarkable statements—“O God, thy way is in the sanctuary”, and then later, “Thy way is in the sea, and thy paths are in the great waters; and thy footsteps are not known”. The secret of the divine way is to be found in the sanctuary, in the presence of God. His way is unchanging and is ever related to His eternal purpose for His own. In the sanctuary we understand the heavenly order of things in which all is related to Christ and headed up in Him to the glory of God. Each believer has been predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, and the table of shewbread speaks of the way in which God views His own as in Christ before Him. We leave the sanctuary with the comfort and assurance that all the ways of God with us in our lives are surely related to the divine purposes we have contemplated within. We cannot trace the exact detail of what God is working out in all that He allows—Paul says, “How ... untraceable his ways!”

(Romans 11: 33)—but faith has the absolute assurance that His way in the sea and His paths in the great waters are all operating in divine love and skill to secure His glorious purpose.

This gives the greatest comfort in bereavement, pain, anxiety, and weakness. It also helps us to see the lesser perplexities, disappointments, and worries of life in a different light. God would draw us near to Him in these experiences, that we might go through them with Him, assured that He is working out rich and precious formation after Christ which is to adorn His sanctuary and subsist for His pleasure and glory eternally.

FCM