The Lord Knows the Way through the Wilderness

During a pause from activity in recent days, I thought of a chorus I last heard and sang as a child. I’m not endorsing choruses as a primary means of worship, but the words of a line of the song stuck with me: “The Lord knows the way through the wilderness; all I need to do is follow.” That might not be all I need to do, but it might be most of what I need to do in order to make my way through the wilderness.

The term, “wilderness,” most hearkens to Israel’s exodus from Egypt, God leading His children with a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. God had the children of Israel traveling through the wilderness. Almost all of them did not in fact follow. Only two from the generation that left Egypt made it into the Promised Land.

The wilderness is a wilderness, but it also represents our trek through life in a sin-cursed world. It includes difficulty, conflict, hunger, thirst, neediness, weakness, and stark emptiness. This is not making one’s way through good and easy times. It doesn’t seem possible to succeed.

Things might become increasingly harder because of the nature of this world. God is good. He provides. This was a New Testament message too, because Jesus said, “Follow me.” That would be like following the Lord through the wilderness. This same message comes from a merely human leader like the Apostle Paul, who said, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” How does someone follow today? He must listen to the Word of God or the Word of Christ. Psalm 119:105 puts it like this: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and I light unto my path.”