Devotional: He Led Them Forth by the Right Way

[I have enjoyed the Morning and Evening devotionals of the late 1800’s Particular Baptist preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, but find them a bit archaic in presentation. So I have re-written them in more modern fashion for modern ears, in some cases even modifying them.]

² Let the redeemed of Yahweh say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy, ³ and gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. ⁴ They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way; they found no city to dwell in. ⁵ Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. ⁶ Then they cried out to Yahweh in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses. ⁷ And He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city for a dwelling place. (Psalm 107:2-7)

Changing experience often leads the anxious believer to inquire, “Why is it like this with me? I looked for light, but lo, darkness came; for peace, but behold, trouble. I said in my heart, my mountain stands firm, I shall never be moved. Lord, You hide Your face, and I am troubled. It was but yesterday that I could read my title to salvation clear; today my evidences are dimmed, and my hopes are clouded. Yesterday, I could climb to Pisgah’s top, and view the landscape over in the promised land, and rejoice with confidence in my future inheritance. Today my spirit has no hopes, but many fears; no joys, but much distress. Is this part of God’s plan for me? Can this be the way in which God would bring me to heaven?

Yes, it is even so. The eclipse of your faith, the darkness of your mind, the fainting of your hope, all these things are but parts of God’s method of making you ripe for the great inheritance upon which you shall soon enter. These trials are for the testing and strengthening of your faith. They are waves that wash you further upon the rock–they are winds which waft your ship the more swiftly towards the desired haven. According to David’s words, so it might be said of you, “So he brings them to their desired haven” (verse 30). By honor and dishonor, by bad report and by good report, by plenty and by poverty, by joy and by distress, by persecution and by peace, by all these things is the life of your souls maintained, and by each of these you are helped on your way.

Oh, think not, believer, that your sorrows are out of God’s plan; they are necessary parts of it. “We must, through much tribulation, enter the kingdom” (Acts 14:22). Learn, then, even to “count it all joy when you fall into various trials” (James 1:2). “O let my trembling soul be still, And wait thy wise, thy holy will! I cannot, Lord, thy purpose see, Yet all is well since ruled by thee.”