UNLIGHTED PATHS

Unlighted Paths

Read: Joshua 1:1–9
Bible in a Year: 2 Kings 10–12; John 1:29–51

The Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.—Joshua 1:9

As we ventured home from a family vacation, the road took us through some desolate parts of central Oregon. For nearly two hours after dusk we drove through deep canyons and across desert plateaus. Fewer than twenty sets of headlights punctuated the darkness. Eventually the moon rose on the horizon, visible to us when the road crested hills but eclipsed when we traveled through the lowlands. My daughter remarked on its light, calling it a reminder of God’s presence. I asked whether she needed to see it to know He was there. She replied, “No, but it sure helps.”

After Moses’s death, Joshua inherited leadership of the Israelites and was charged to take God’s chosen people into the Promised Land. Despite his divine commission, Joshua must have felt challenged by the daunting nature of his task. God graciously offered Joshua assurance to be with him on the journey ahead (Josh. 1:9).

The road of life often travels through uncharted territory. We voyage through seasons when the path ahead isn’t clearly visible. God’s plan may not always be apparent to us, but He has promised to be with us “always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:20). What greater assurance could we hope for, no matter what uncertainty or challenge we might face? Even when the path is unlit, the Light is with us. —Kirsten Holmberg

Lord, thank You for being near me even when I cannot see You. Please comfort me with Your presence.

God is with us even when we can’t see Him.

INSIGHT: A classic worship song describes God as “immortal, invisible, God only wise, in light inaccessible hid from our eyes.” One of the challenges of faith is that we trust in a God we cannot see. But, Jesus came to make the invisible God visible. John 1:18 says, “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God [Jesus] . . . has made him known.” When we become fearful or discouraged in the dark seasons of life, we can still see God’s love clearly through His Son. Bill Crowder