“This is the way, walk in it.”
These words come from Isaiah 30. I love the image they create—of a path stretching forward, over the hill and into the horizon. You don’t know what’s coming up, exactly, but you know where the path goes. It’s an image I can picture really easily because of how many backpacking trips I’ve been on. Do we have any backpackers or hikers here?
My twin sister is the one who introduced me to backpacking. The very first trip she took me on was an overnight on the Ice Age trail in Wisconsin. I’ve used stories from this trip a lot in devotions and Bible studies, because a lot of stuff happened in it, and also because, I think, looking back, I realize that I was so unprepared to go backpacking, and yet the trip overall went really well, mainly because my sister did everything for me.
One of the things my sister taught me on this particular trip was that, when you’re backpacking or hiking on trails, it’s actually far more important to know where you are, then it is to know where you’re headed. The reason for this is that if you don’t constantly compare your surroundings to your map, it’s very easy to convince yourself that you’re still following the trail on the map, even though you may be on a completely different trail at that point. And once you’ve lost where you are, it’s almost impossible to get back on track. So, to avoid getting lost, you pay close attention to where you currently are.
On this trip, my sister had given me a compass, and a map, and talked through what our route was. We would stop frequently to check against the map when we encountered things like a steep hill or a change in direction on the trail. It was during one of these checks, in the afternoon on our first day on the trail, when I realized something.
If my sister dropped dead at that moment, I would have no chance of making it out. Because I was not paying attention to things like how long we had been hiking for, or what direction we were traveling based on the compass, or if we were on a ridge line or not. I was just kind of following along. My sister was doing all that stuff.
But I knew as long as I could follow her, we would make it to our campsite, to our car, and to Culver’s, eventually. Because she knew the way, even though I had no clue.
In Isaiah 30, God is confronting the Israelites about the path they are on. Israel, under threat from Assyria, has turned to Egypt in their desperation to gain protection. Meanwhile, God is standing there saying, “Hey, remember me? The Holy One of Israel? Why haven’t you turned to me for protection, for direction, for guidance? What are you doing?”
But then he says these words, and in these words is not only hope for Israel but hope for us. He says, “The Lord waits to be gracious to you.”
The Lord WAITS to be gracious to you.
And he goes on and says, “Though the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it, when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.”
The Teacher is Jesus. And he came to us so that God would not be hidden from us anymore, but that God himself would dwell among us. And when we face trouble, or when we are hurt, or when we don’t know the way to go, Jesus is right there with us, saying “I am the way. Follow me.”
Here at camp we don’t know exactly what the future will bring. We don’t know exactly where the path leads. But we do know where we are. And where we are is following Jesus, who knows the way and is the Way. We are so glad to have you join us as we seek to follow Jesus together. I hope you’re excited. I know I am. I can’t wait to see where he takes us and the role that I, and that you, play in the journey.
This is the way. Let’s walk in it.
Amen.
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This devotion was written by Frisbee, currently the Camp Lakeview Program Director at Lakeview Ministries in Seymour, Indiana. The picture in the blog banner is her actual view over approximately 30 miles of the Ice Age Trail.