Invisible and Obvious

Your way ran through the sea; your path cut through great

waters, yet no one can spot your footprints.  This is how you

lead your people:  obviously and invisibly.  Psalm 77:19

 So many are searching. Christians often live in a continual awareness of seeking the leading of God. He gives us his Word—solid, trustworthy, life‑giving—yet the movement of his Spirit within us can still leave us wondering. How do I know the “voice” I hear isn’t simply my own? How do I distinguish God’s way from the world’s way, beyond the obvious sins we know to avoid? What should my career be? Who should walk with me in life? Where does ministry fit in a world overflowing with need?

This metaphor from the Psalms steadies me. A path through the sea? Footprints in the ocean? I’ve seen something like that in real life.

I come from an area where there are many gravel pits, the digs of the mounds of fill and silt dropped by the glaciers during the last ice age.  Before conservation laws came into effect, gravel was often dug right up to the riverbanks, swallowing sections of the river into the widening pit and leaving behind a lake where land once stood. It looked as if the river had vanished.

But I learned something: if you stand in just the right place, at just the right time, you can see the river’s path running straight through that man‑made lake. Invisible from most angles, but unmistakable when you know where to look.

That’s the key—knowing when and where to place myself so I can catch God’s truth. That becomes the work: searching for that vantage point, positioning myself with intention, waiting for the moment when the hidden becomes clear. Just like an eagle who must put themselves in the right place to soar and catch the wind, so must I.  And when I do—when I wait, observe, and ready myself—God’s leading becomes astonishingly obvious. The revelation comes, and with it, the action that follows.

 

Prayer:

Lord, teach me where to stand.

Quiet my striving so I can see the path you cut through the waters.

Help me trust your leading even when your footprints are hidden.

Make me ready for the revelation—and the obedience—that follows.

Amen.