Recently while studying my Bible, the Holy Spirit alerted me to an interesting pattern we see through the Scripture. God goes ahead of His people preparing blessings and providentially working out details in their favor. While we are stuck in the quagmire of present problems and our vision ahead impaired by the high mountains of obstacles all around, God is already in the future. The Good Shepherd is clearing our path and preparing our steps. Jehovah Jireh is laying out manna for the next day and running the errands we can’t.
God said to Israel in Deuteronomy 31:8, “The LORD is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” David wrote in Psalm 139:5, “You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. In Isaiah 45:2 God gave an amazing prophecy about how He would use the pagan king Cyrus to do His bidding, “I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron” Amazingly, God named Cyrus as His instrument 100 years before his birth.
Often in the Bible we see God reaching ahead into future circumstances to act on behalf of His people. God sent the ram on a path up Mt. Moriah before Abraham nearly plunged the knife into Isaac (Gen. 22:13). Jesus healed the nobleman’s sick son the moment he headed down the road to his home in Capernaum. It took 24 hours for the nobleman to return and discover the miracle was there waiting on him to catch up to it (John 4:46-54). On Easter morning, the women wondered who would roll the stone away from Jesus’ tomb, yet when they arrived, they discovered an angel had already done the heavy lifting (Mark 16:3-4). When Philip met the Ethiopian eunuch in the desert, it was clear the Holy Spirit had already been drawing the man to Christ because he’d been reading the “Suffering Servant” passage in Isaiah 53 (Acts 8:26-40).
In his book, The Jordan River Rules, Robert Morgan wrote about Laliso, an evangelist missionary working in Ethiopia. Laliso wanted to take the Gospel to a remote, unreached tribe in the village of Goybi. Along the way, Laliso got lost on the dark jungle trail. He tripped and tumbled into a rushing river. Laliso tried to fight the current, but he was carried downstream. When he floated to a clearing, Laliso could hear approaching voices and he cried for help. As he was pulled out of the water by a stranger he exclaimed, “He is the fair one who has come out of the water to us!” A murmur of excitement arose among the small band of villagers, who took Laliso into one of their huts where they dried out his clothes and gave him food. Laliso wondered why this tribe – who had a reputation of hostility towards outsiders – was being so hospitable.
Then a local medicine man arrived and examined Laliso up and down. The medicine man asked, “Sir, are you the holy man? Did you bring the golden leaves?” Laliso thought for a second, then he produced a water-logged Bible from his backpack, which had a black cover and gold edges on the pages. The people gasped, “It is true! The gold leaves have come!” Then the medicine man explained, “A long time ago, before my father died, he told us that one day a fair man would come to us out of the water and he would give golden leaves to the people. Those golden leaves would have written on them the words of God to eternal life. We have waited so long for you to arrive. Please read the words from the golden leaves to us." Laliso began preaching the Gospel and the dozens of people from the village believed in Christ.[1]
Expect God to turn
problems into pathways. Expect God to be working ahead in ways we cannot see or
imagine yet. Trust that the future God has instore is bright and blessed, even
when it seems like you’ve been left alone in the present. -DM
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