envelop spinner search close plus arrow-right arrow-left facebook twitter
"No Way But Forward"

"No Way But Forward"

by Dr. Darren McClellan on October 07, 2020

image of painting: "Crossing the Sea", by Yoram Raanan

…speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.

                                                            --Exodus 14:15

 

Martin Luther said that “it is a good thing to let prayer be the first business of the morning and the last of the evening.” 

Well, I don’t know about you, but I failed to miserably to heed Luther’s advice this morning as I woke up tracking another storm in my mind.  Several, actually, and how easy it was to do! 

The great reformer went on to say that we should “Guard yourself against such false and deceitful thoughts that keep whispering, ‘wait awhile.  In an hour or so I will pray.  I must first finish this or that.’  Thinking such thoughts we get away from prayer into other things that will hold us and involve us till the prayer of the day comes to naught.”

I confess that my initial attention was held by several “other things” today.  One is named “Delta.”  Another is “Covid.”  Another is “President Trump medical update.”  There are other storms to be sure; concerns for loved ones, for ourselves, for our neighbors, and for the perceived challenges of the day ahead. 

I wish I could say that today was somehow unique.  Upon further reflection, however, I now notice that my morning routine can be more of a self-absorbed pep talk than a time of prayer.  Some of you will remember the Stuart Smalley character on Saturday Night Live years ago who would stare in the mirror and say “It’s going to be a great day today, because you’re good enough, your smart enough, and doggone it, people like you.”  It’s no wonder this made the audience laugh!  Such lines of self-help are never as convincing (or true) as we might hope them to be. 

For many, I imagine, the darkness of the morning hour brings voices of shameful interrogation rather than actual intercession.  Am I ready for this? Did I remember to follow through on that? Is it time to panic?  What hope do we have?  The questions can roll on endlessly, inspired by the events and circumstances around us.  Whether it is the voice of the meteorologist, the physician, the financial advisor, the insurance adjuster, or our own family members, it seems that there is always someone there to remind us of our place in the dreaded “cone of uncertainty."

Thus, the very notion of greeting the day with God does not always come naturally to us.  But would it help to know that the God who gives you rest is the same God who waits patiently for you to receive the day, whose mercies are new every morning (Lam. 3:22-23)? 

As in the image of a child who stands eagerly at her parent’s bedside on Christmas morning, just waiting for some respectable sign of life, the instigation of the Holy Spirit is also present and clear: come on, already!  We have reason to get up and get going!

In our recent preaching and teaching of the Exodus journey and in comparison of the “adventure” that is 2020 (you may choose a different word for it if you like), there are any number of obstacles or considerations that may prevent us from moving forward as we believe that we should.  The story from the records of old Israel is more than an event of the long ago; it is also a parable of the Christian life—that magnificent venture of faith against the powers of evil and the great unknown. 

Truth be told, however, none of us will dedicate ourselves to a worthwhile task or high calling without soon discovering that adversaries are on the track and there are barriers along the path.  As the saying goes, “if it was easy, everybody would do it.”

Our faith offers us a strong tradition of such wisdom.  As the Rev. Costen J. Harrell wrote in a little book from 1931 that I pulled off the shelf recently, 

“How often we have wished that we had never undertaken a good work because in the midst of it we were almost overwhelmed by opposition without and faint-heartedness within.  Our chariots stall on the hill, and we pine for the level and enervating lowlands.  But every brave (person) knows that it is better to march with God amid the perils of Pharaoh’s hosts and through the difficulties of the way than to make bricks in Egypt.  Even the sorrow-stricken heart recovers its lost joy by going on with him.  For those who trust the divine power and heed the divine call there is no way but forward.”

Amen to that!  Who among us has not had our chariot stall at some point?  Who among us would not prefer to run downhill?  And yet, we are told that “the Lord of hosts is with us.  The God of Jacob is our refuge” (Ps. 46:7).  And thus, we are asked, “why so downcast, O my soul?  Put your hope in God” (Ps. 42:5).
 

Have you ever come to the Red Sea place in your life,

Where in spite of all you can do,

There is no other way out, there is no way back,

There is no other way but through?

Then wait on the Lord with a trust serene,

Till the night of your fear is gone;

He will send the winds, he will keep the floods,

When he says to your soul, “Go on.”

 

                                    --Anonymous

 

And so we pray,

May the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make us perfect in every good work to do his will, working in us that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory forever and ever (Heb. 13:20-21).  Amen.

 

Yours,

Darren

return to Daily Devotionals