Receipts

Your path led through the sea, your way through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen. – Psalm 77:19 (NIV) 

The psalmist is in a funk, facing many of the same adversities that trouble us today: mounting antagonisms and increasing injustice accompanied by the stifling void of unanswered prayer. In solemn desperation, the psalmist plaintively questions God, “Will you reject forever? Will you never show favor again? Has your promise failed all time? Have you forgotten the merciful?” 

But out of debilitating despondency emerges an upward inflection when the psalmist recalls his past experiences of God’s power to deliver. The psalmist remembers that the paths of God are not paved with smooth comforts and steady conveniences. In fact, the avenues of the divine stretch across the deep turbulence of the sea. Yet through the uncharted, unsteady vacillations of the deep, the life of the psalmist is held intact by the hand of God. And God’s pathway through seas of suffering and uncertainty lead God’s people to the promised land of liberty and self-agency. 

Upon reflection I think we can all confess that our greatest lessons and revelations about life and about God have not come to us through pathways of pleasure and expediency. What we know about life and what we trust about God have come through waves of tribulation and gusts of contrary winds out on the shifting seas of time. Our faith has been forged in the fire and our salvation has been secured through rough waters and formidable conditions.  

Perfect peace amidst tidal waves of calamity. Divine presence in places drenched in darkness. Secure salvation on the waters of debacle and destabilization. These are the receipts that confirm God as our anchor in any threatening situation. 

Prayer
Lord in these troubled times, show us again the receipts of your saving power. Amen.

About the Author
Kenneth L. Samuel is Pastor of Victory for the World Church, Decatur, Georgia.