Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Psalm 73:23-24 (ESV)
Some days loom larger than life. The choices we are forced to make are more challenging than hiking up Mount Kilimanjaro. Those are the days, the moments, when we need God’s counsel more than ever.
I remember when my husband Leonard was in the hospital after a terrible infection that ate away part of his hip and pelvis. With no right hip, only half a pelvis, and a broken femur (the surgeon left it broken like a toothpick for four months until he could do reconstructive surgery), I was at a loss in regards to his post-hospital care. The apparent choices were to bring him home – not a safe, realistic, or even viable option – or return to the nursing home where he would remain in bed day and night for four long months.
I remember laying my head on Len’s chest as I sobbed out my dilemma, pleading with God to help me figure out a way forward. I had barely wiped my eyes when his nurse entered the room and asked if there was anything she could do to help. I promptly explained the predicament to her. A few minutes later, she returned and informed us a bed had just opened up at a nearby rehabilitation center where Len would receive therapy six days a week and would receive great care until the time he could realistically come home. The bed was all his if he wanted it!
God is in the business of opening windows where doors have been closed. He is not some distant God, uninterested in our problems but a loving heavenly father who holds us by the hand and tenderly leads us in the direction that is best for our lives. Our problems are His problems, our cares His cares.
The question I would pose today is the following: Have you asked God to help you with your predicament? Are you actively seeking His counsel? Are you listening for His voice? Isaiah 43:19 promises, “Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” He promises to make a way where there seems to be no way, to provide refreshment where there was only desolation. Yet the question remains: Have you brought your dilemma to the One who can make a way?
Prayer: Lord, today I choose to replace worry with trust. I surrender my ‘wilderness’ to you, confident that you have already prepared a way through to the other side. Hold my hand, guide me with your counsel, and keep my gaze focused solely on you. It’s in your name I pray, Amen.
Thought: Where there is hope, there is faith. Where there is faith, miracles happen.
God Will Make a Way
God will make a way
Where there seems to be no way
He works in ways we cannot see
He will make a way for me
He will be my guide
Hold me closely to His side
With love and strength for each new day
He will make a way, He will make a way
Lyrics by Don Moen 1993 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zo3fJYtS-o