Have you ever worked a maze puzzle? There is a starting point, and the goal is to make it to the end point. There are many dead ends, paths that are blocked, and paths that lead to nowhere. If you’ve ever walked a maze, such as a cornfield maze that many farms make in the autumn, they can be fun, but also frustrating when you go down a dead end path, and your way is constantly being blocked. Life is often like that, when your way is being blocked with problems and broken or failed dreams and desires. Sometimes the problems are quite serious, and unless you can find some way out, the end result will be disastrous. If only a way would open up for us to find the way through! In our Scripture for today from the prophet Isaiah, the Lord gives a promise to His children, that when we turn to Him, He will make a way. Let’s look at this Scripture.
In this Scripture passage from the prophet Isaiah, he presents to us several different scenarios where the people’s pathway through life has been blocked, or come across some danger, preventing them from getting through. The first one is by a body of water from getting to the other side (vs. 16). If in life, we have to make it to the other side of the “water” for our health, our safety, or just to survive, how are we going to get there? We have run up against a block to our path, and there is no way through.
Next we read of the horse and chariot coming (vs. 17). In the days of Isaiah the horse and chariot were the most dreaded military might there was. To face an army of chariots and powerful horses was a terror, especially if your army had few or none, and at that time only a wealthy and powerful nation had them.
The third dreaded pathway Isaiah mentions is that of the wilderness and desert (vs. 19-20). If someone is needing to get to a destination, they don’t want to have to pass through a wilderness or a desert. Those places don’t have water, and can frequently have fearsome and dangerous animals.
However, what does the Lord tell Isaiah? As the prophet relays His message to us, God promises His children that He will make a way for us through the waters. We might be facing some terrible danger in our life, but God says that if we are trusting in Him, He will put down those “chariots and horses” that are coming against us. Their power will be extinguished. The Lord also promises those who are in a covenant relationship with Him that He will make a road for us through the wilderness, and bring rivers of water for us to drink from when we are fainting.
The path of our life often may be narrow and tough. Our situation may be as hot and barren as a desert, or as forlorn and meaningless as a wasteland. However, with Jesus in our life as Savior, He will make a way for us. He promises to make a way in the wilderness. God delights in blessing us with surprising moments of joy where He turns our path in life from despair to one of wonder (vs. 19), if only we will see them.
Another lesson that the Lord has for us here is that He does not want any of us to live in the past, either continually bemoaning our past sins, or crying over the past tragedies we have gone through (vs. 18). With God’s forgiveness we can leave our past mistakes behind, and live for today and the future the Lord gives us. With His healing, we can move on from the past tragedies and hurts we have gone through, and go on in the life He gives us now. Forget what is past. Don’t dwell on it. All it does is tire and depress us. We need to learn what lessons there are from past mistakes or past hurts, and then look for the new way the Lord is setting out for us. Let go of the painful past to make way for what God has in store for you today.
Sometimes tragedies in a life can be so strong and deep, the pathway in life has struck such a dead end, that we would wonder how God could possibly bring good out of it. But just like the seeds of some trees are only released in extreme heat, such as a forest fire, in like manner God can and does bring good and “new life” from tragedies.
God wants us to look and listen to what He is doing for us in Jesus Christ, our Savior. If we are abiding close to Him in our life, He has promised that He will make a way for us through the water, through the desert, and put down any “chariots” that come at us. We just need to trust in His promises!
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