“Thy footsteps are not known.”

A meditation from Psalm 77

With all the unpleasantness surrounding the ACNA Calvin Robinson affair, I thought it good to conclude this awful week with something encouraging.

Perhaps I should presume to say the Lord thinks it good as he used the liturgical calendar, as he often does. Hey, if the Book of Common Prayer is good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for me.

Well, with it being the 15th day of the month yesterday, I read Psalm 77 for Morning Prayer. I was grieving over the situation in ACNA and the REC and for Fr. Calvin’s setback. That psalm was just what I needed to encourage me, particularly verse 19.

For the first half of the psalm, the writer is not happy and is rather frank with the Lord about that. One thing I find encouraging about the Psalms as a whole is that they show God understands when we are vexed and frustrated, even frustrated with him. The Psalms are not a bunch of pious Precious Moments happytalk, which would vex me if it were so. Well, the psalmist is not shy about letting the Lord know about his unhappiness. “When my heart is vexed, I will complain.” (v. 3 Coverdale) And complain he did.

But beginning in the middle of verse 10, he turns his focus from his vexation to God and his acts.

But I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.

I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings. (vv. 10-12 KJ)

By the way, that is a good pattern to follow when you are grieving or just unhappy about something. Be honest with God about your unhappiness, and don’t pretend about it. But then turn your focus on God and on his acts, past, present and future. I’ve read the Psalms enough that has become instinctive for me and helps keep me somewhat sane, which is saying something.

The psalmist so doing encouraged me. And, as I said, verse 19 particularly encouraged me. I think it one of the most beautiful verses in the Bible.

They way is in the sea, and thy paths in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known. (Coverdale)

There are many times — most of the time? — when we do not know what God is up to. Yes, we can partly know the big picture of his doings and purposes:

Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth… (Ephesian 1:9,10 KJ)

But the smaller pictures, the steps he is taking to get there and to get us there are often a mystery and a frustrating one that even makes us grieve at times. Yet even in the raging seas of our lives that seem about to overwhelm us, “Thy way is in the sea” also, “and Thy paths in the great waters.” God is still there and still accomplishing his good purposes. But . . . and this is the part that gives me chills:

. . . and thy footsteps are not known.

I hesitate to dissect such a mysterious and sublime verse. You’d probably do better to sit and meditate on verse 19 than to read me. But we usually do not know his footsteps, we do not know what God is doing in the midst of the stormy seas of our lives and events. We can know that he works “all things … together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28, which also keeps me sane) But it is often a mystery of just how he is doing so in the midst of the storms and waves. That it is a mystery, at least for a time, is probably for our good as well.

Bringing it back to this week, I do not know how God is using this mess and working in ACNA, in the REC or in the lives of Calvin Robinson and the rest of us. I did not see this mess coming. I certainly cannot yet see God’s footsteps in it.

But though his “footsteps are not known,” I know they are there. I know he is there. I know he is working “all things together for good.” And I can trust him to lead us, even me, through the “great waters.”

Have a good weekend. If you need a good rest as I and many of us do, be sure to get it. God bless you as he leads you through the waters.

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I have quite a few new readers this week. Welcome.

I should let you know that I rarely post as often as I did this week. Two times a week is more typical. And my postings are more eclectic than what you saw this week. History and politics are frequently touched on. If I preach a sermon, I usually post it here. I’m not everyone’s cup of tea, but I hope you benefit from my substack anyway.