You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. [Psalm 139:5 (NLT)]
Although it’s been many years, whenever I read today’s verse about God going both before and after me, I’m reminded of a hiking trip my daughter and I took through the Canadian Rockies. One of our guides led and tied orange ribbons along the trail to mark the way. A second guide (the sweep) followed the last hiker and removed the trail markers. With guides both before us and following us, the group could spread out, find their own pace, and take breaks when needed, while ensuring no one got lost or left behind.
As our group started up the trail to a mountainside teahouse, my daughter and I grew impatient with the lead guide’s moderate pace. Confident we couldn’t miss the trail, we shot ahead of her. Apparently, in our haste, we veered left when we should have stayed right. Although the trail should have been uphill, it gradually went downward but, unwilling to admit we may have erred, we continued until we caught sight of the same lake from which we’d begun! Finally conceding our error, we turned around and hiked back up the trail. By the time we reached the main trail, the orange trail markers had been removed by the sweep. Nevertheless, knowing we needed to go further uphill, we continued our trek and eventually rejoined our group at the teahouse. In our case, the first really were the last and we barely had enough time to eat lunch before continuing the day’s hike.
It’s not wise to charge ahead of mountain guides or God. When we fail to let God set the pace, life can go downhill quickly, often with tragic consequences. Impatient for a child, Sarah rushed ahead of God by giving Hagar to Abraham; the Middle East hasn’t known peace since! Growing impatient with Jehovah when Moses was on Mt. Sinai, the Israelites made a new god out of their jewelry and, later, thinking they knew a better route, they grew impatient when Moses led them around the land of Edom. Neither episode ended well for them and people died because of their foolishness! Saul charged ahead by making a sacrifice without waiting for Samuel and lost his kingdom. In Jesus’ parable, the prodigal son raced ahead by demanding his inheritance before his father’s death. It was only because the lesson was about God’s grace and mercy that his story ended well.
“You go before me and follow me,” David said about God in Psalm 139. Had my daughter and I allowed the lead to set the pace, the same could have been said about our hiking guides. But our impatience and overconfidence caused us to go the wrong way. The same thing happens when we overestimate our ability to do life “our way” and underestimate what God is doing with His deliberate pace, unplanned detours, difficulties, and delays. Just because we don’t see progress doesn’t mean God isn’t doing something; it simply means we can’t see what it is He’s doing! As John Piper wisely pointed out: “God is always doing ten thousand things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them.” We need to trust God’s guidance and let Him determine our route and pace!
We are blessed to have a God who is both before and behind us. In front of us, He is leading, marking the way, lighting the path ahead, warning us of hazards, and smoothing the trail. Behind us, He is lifting us when we stumble, strengthening us when we weaken, encouraging us when we falter, correcting us when we err, and protecting us when danger lurks. But, like our human hiking guides, God will allow us to barge ahead and make mistakes along the trail. Fortunately, along with allowing us the freedom to turn the wrong way, God lets us make U-turns and return to Him! When my daughter and I left our guides on the trail, they soon lost sight of us. God, however, never loses sight of His children nor will He remove the signs showing us the way to go. He always is there, leading and sweeping, like the extraordinary guide that God is.
The beautiful thing about this adventure called faith is that we can count on Him never to lead us astray. [Chuck Swindoll]
Devotions of the Heart 