Don’t you wish you could see directly, without a doubt, when God acts?  Answers to prayer as clear as a bell?  No long-shot, thin ice uncertainty about His responding to our needs and wants?  Everything out in the open?  Alas, not to be!

Life requires faith in Jesus.  A trust which relies on Him with all the unseen and unknown.  His helping hand when less than obvious.  His actions as if behind closed doors.  Or is He another Wizard of Oz?  A fantasy of my own making?  An opiate to soothe life’s pains?

Reading Psalm 77 you overhear another anguished voice–‘In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord; in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying; my soul refuses to be comforted.  When I remember God, I moan; when I meditate, my spirit faints…I am so troubled that I cannot speak…’ (vs.2-4).

Maybe you’re also in a pickle, a tight spot, hot water.  Haven’t we all had those moments?  Can’t find your way out?  As if God has turned His back on you?  Given up on us as we stumble and fall all over sin’s consequences, which land squarely on the old kisser?

Read on as the poet remembers when God leads Israel out of slavery in Egypt, the Exodus event.  Psalm 77:19–‘Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters; yet your footprints were unseen.’  The Hebrew word ‘unseen’ also translates as ‘unknown’.  Though the Israelites couldn’t directly see the Lord doing these wonders, they will experience the results.  Their deliverance.  Their enemies defeated.

Often in hindsight, we see much clearer through eyes of faith.  Gazing back, remembering God’s promises and how He’s worked them out in our lives.   No ifs, ands, or buts.  An unshakeable, unmoved certainty that can sit with the unseen and unknown, patiently leaning on God’s shoulders.  Even beginning to wait…on Him.  That would be nice for a change (speaking of myself here).

I’m asking Jesus for more faith in Him alone.  To bear down, plugging away at trusting and believing Jesus, again with all the unknown and unseen, which usually puzzle me, giving me the heebie-jeebies.

I want to get closer to Jesus.  To take His hand in mine, telling Him all about it, stretching my faith His way.  It won’t break.  His hold is firm.  Want to try it?

Lord Jesus, help me to develop strong muscles of faith in you.  Amen.