The Journey - Pt. 2

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me. (Psalm 13 ESV).

 

I am returning to the image of traveling Route 66 today to make an important point about our personal journey. The picture you see today is from a stretch of the original road through New Mexico. It is actually in better condition than other parts of the alignment. When the government decided to begin construction of the Interstate system, some of Rout 66 began to fall into disrepair. In fact some of it today is little more than a dirt trail. I’m actually looking forward to traveling some of these parts of the route someday. Crazy? Perhaps it is. However, I am convinced that if I always take the “easiest” route I may miss something essential to my experience. My life is like that.

 

In his book How Can It Be All Right When Everything Is All Wrong? Lewis Smedes tells about a visit to a dying friend. When leaving the hospital room, he heard his friend say, “It’s going to be all right.” It was his friend’s way of saying, “I’m trusting in God. He knows what he is doing.” Sometimes trusting God is easier said than done. When your health is failing, or you lose someone you love, or your job is on the line, or something happens to your child, it’s not always easy to say, “But I trust in your unfailing love.” When life becomes a valley, it can be a challenge to “sing the LORD’s praise.” And yet the only way to live is by trusting the Lord. You can’t trust your health or your investments because they can fail you at any time. You can’t bank on your government because its power is quite limited. The only one we can really trust is the Lord. He never fails us.

 

That may be the most important message, especially today. It is Inauguration Day. The capitol is filled with law enforcement, National Guard, and other peace-keeping forces. In my seven decades, I’ve never seen such a thing. If we’re not careful it becomes easy to focus on what’s wrong rather than on the One who makes all things right. As you get ready to embark on this new part of your journey, make sure you pack the essential things. Greatest among those is a genuine trust in the Lord for each part of it. Even the “dirt roads” are for our good (cf. Romans 8:28).