I am conscious that many within my small circle are experiencing heaviness and deep discouragement. Life, of course, is full of ups and downs, but the downs tend to accumulate, and the weight of unresolved issues becomes so heavy, there sometimes seems little hope of ever coming out from under.

When despair takes hold, what is the way out? Is there a way out? When God Himself seems not to hear, or worse, to have forgotten or even rejected us, what then? These are the questions the psalmist, Asaph, tries to answer in Psalm 77. (I urge you to read the entire Psalm.)

Asaph’s solution to his own sleepless nights and troubled thinking is to try to remember and meditate on God’s miraculous deeds from long ago. The specific deed that becomes the focus of his meditation is the miracle of the Red Sea crossing (See Exodus 14). I believe the word picture he paints in his concluding verses (v 19-20) indicate he found at least a glimpse of hope for the way out of his own darkness.

“Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen. You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.”

Lord, help me to follow you in dark days and through impossible situations, even when I cannot see you or any sign of your leading–when your footprints are invisible. Help me to move forward when the waters stand as yet unparted before me, trusting that you will either divide them or give me the faith to walk across . . . through Jesus Christ, my Lord, whose voice the waves also obey. Amen.