He Knows the Way

He is the God of Roads and Rivers

“Listen carefully, I am about to do a new thing, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it?  I will even put a road in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.”

Isaiah 43:19 AMP

God makes a way where there is no way.  In a wilderness of trees so dense and terrible that we could never find our way out, He builds a road.  As we move and depend upon Him, as we learn to trust His attributes and lean upon His benefits, He removes every rock and boulder, every fallen tree, until the pathway before us becomes clear. 

Sometimes holding tightly, so tightly, to His arm becomes our only lifeline, for we are sure we will not survive.  But in His tender care, we are safe.  He is our strong tower, our refuge in every storm.  

In His strength and in His wisdom, because He is loving and kind, He protects us, directs us, and forges our way through impossible situations. 

That’s His specialty.  

When we have long fought the good fight of faith, when our bones are weary from the struggle to stand and keep standing, when we cannot go on for one more day, He brings rivers. More than one river.  Sometimes there are many…

The Lord gives peace that flows like a river (Isaiah 66:12).  And where His river flows, life will flourish, for it makes the salty sea into fresh water (Ezekiel 47:8-10).  Even to the very end, He brings “a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.” (Psalm 46:4-5)

When God brings a river, He brings peace.  With another river set in place, He brings new life to desolate spaces.  When we are demolished and our spirits are crushed beyond all recognition, our loving Father brings a river of joy that floods our soul in a dry and weary land.  

God’s rivers in the desert bring overwhelming peace, life, and joy that we cannot understand.  When our delight is in the Lord, even in the midst of challenges, we will be “like a tree firmly planted [and fed] by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season; Its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers [and comes to maturity]” (Psalm 1:3 AMP). 

He is the Breaker Who Opens the Way

“The breaker [the Messiah, who opens the way] shall go up before them [liberating them]. They will break out, pass through the gate and go out; So their King goes on before them, The LORD at their head.”

Micah 2:13 AMP

His strategies are better than anything this life will ever bring against us.  His Truth is stronger than every lie.  Freedom rests in His hands, for His weapons never fail.  

This is the truth the enemy never wanted us to know. This is why he only comes to steal, kill, and destroy.  If he can take advantage of our circumstances and distract us from the truth and pure freedom that comes from God’s Word, then he has won.  

And we may have lost this battle, or that battle, out of fear or doubt or other human weakness.  We are all in the same boat, in that regard!  But the other truth the enemy never wanted us to know is that our God will never leave us nor forsake us.  When we are on our knees in the battle, we are not down for the count!  In fact, on our knees is the perfect position to cry out to the Lord… 

And watch out when we do!

• Our cry reaches His very ears and He takes action (Psalm 18:6-12).
• In His anger He comes running and He scatters His enemies (Psalm 18:13-19).
• In His tender mercy He brings a new dawn (Luke 1:78-79). 
• His steadfast love never ceases, and His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23).

He Splits the Sea… 

“It was you who split open the sea by your power; You broke the heads of the monster in the waters. It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan and gave it as food to the creatures of the desert.”

Psalm 74:13 AMP

I am the sea, and Leviathan was my pride.  I knew the Lord, but did not really believe Him or take Him at His Word. I found it nearly impossible to follow Him sometimes. It nearly took me down, but Psalm 18 was my battle cry.  “The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety….” Psalm 18:2 NLT.

When our enemy comes from within, in the forms of anger, bitterness, pride, and a haughty spirit (as they were in me), it is only the Lord who can dive into the deep ocean of our humanity and bring them out. These are not easy to defeat because they are rooted in our flesh and anchored by our emotions (and our memories), but God’s strategies are better and stronger than anything we will ever face. 

He teaches us to forgive, releasing anger and uprooting bitterness.  Because of His mercy, in the miracle of His grace, He leads us to submit to Him in all things, destroying pride and silencing its voice.  

He gives us His strength, and walks us through it step by step.  He holds our hand and shows us the way. He helps us to defeat our enemies and crush them until they subdued under our feet (Psalm 18:37-39).  “In Your strength I can crush an army; with my God I can scale any wall.” Psalm 18:29 NLT.

The weapons of His warfare are not found in human strength. We absolutely cannot win the war with pride, anger, bitterness, or the flesh on our own. The battle will be different for each person, but the weapons are the same: His weapons, not ours…

They did not conquer the land with their swords;
    it was not their own strong arm that gave them victory.
It was Your right hand and strong arm
    and the blinding light from Your face that helped them,
    for You loved them.

Psalm 44:3 NLT

He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life

When we trust in Him… when we engage the strength of His Word… when we willingly and obediently follow His voice… we will find the greatest gift of all. We will find Him. He is the answer we have been looking for all of our lives. His is the love we have been searching for in all the wrong places. In all of these things, we cherish His attributes and we rest in His benefits, but He is the true goal. Find Him and you’ve found it all.

He is the God of Roads and Rivers.
He is the Breaker Who Opens the Way.
He Splits the Sea… 
He is the Way the Truth and the Life

30 God’s way is perfect.
All the Lord’s promises prove true.
He is a shield for all who look to Him for protection.
31 For who is God except the Lord?
Who but our God is a solid rock?
32 God arms me with strength,
and He makes my way perfect.
33 He makes me as surefooted as a deer,
enabling me to stand on mountain heights.
34 He trains my hands for battle;
He strengthens my arm to draw a bronze bow.
35 You have given me your shield of victory.
Your right hand supports me;
Your help has made me great.
36 You have made a wide path for my feet
to keep them from slipping.

Psalm 18:30-36 NLT