Footprints of God

 

This is an autobiographical poem. How often I have prayed something like what Ps. 77 starts out with. Why doesn’t God do things today like He did in times past? The Psalmist is looking back to those times when God was then and there, pleading with God that he needed to be here and now for our present needs for miracles. In the poem I cite the three main religious explanations: 1. God doesn’t do miracles any more. 2. You don’t know what you are asking for. And 3. Make a splash for God in this world and you won’t need to depend on Him (because He’s not dependable?).

 

Where the Psalmist did see God was in the roiling waters, in the storm, the lightning and the whirlwind. Our family knows about those things. And that is where we have seen God in all his power, to take us through and bring us out the other side.

 

Why do we believe so strongly? It is because of the storms we have been through. It is in the chaos that we have found God in the here and now. That is why I chose the metaphor of the pond. God’s path for us led through the sea, through the mighty waters. God doesn’t leave footprints when He walks on water. Verse 19. So I have led a God obsessed life without seeing the footprints of God and I am as sure of Him as if I had been a eye-witness of the resurrection.

 

                Epitaph

            (Ps. 77 NIV)

 

 

It was an ancient pond,

 

Black the color of that deep, still pool.

 

Whitecaps not within the memory

Of one who watched along the edge.

He was one of them that wait.

 

His counselors long gone,

"This pool was made for peace," the first one said,

"No whirlpool for twenty centuries has appeared.

I saw some ripples once but they caused,

By pebbles from a small boy's hand."

And the second said, "Do you really want that storm?

Can you handle the wildness of God?

You will drown in the whirlpool of His stirring finger."

And the last: "God won't trouble the waters;

You must.  Jump in!

Make a mighty splash for God."

"Deluded!" said one.

"Tempting God!" said another.

"Indolent!" said the last.

Yet still he watched.  Even so he waited.

 

From the cold fingers of the dead,

They pried a wrinkled document that read,

"To this will I appeal:

The years of the right hand of the Most High."

From where the body lay they saw

The footprints of his soul lead down

Unto the water's edge and disappear,

And the sand lay in ripples on the shore.

Upon his pauper's stone they wrote,

"Here lies one whose path went through the seas,

Through the mighty waters,

Yet the footprints of his God were never seen."

 

 

Psalm 77^[a]

For the director of music. For Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A psalm.

¹ I cried out to God for help;
    I cried out to God to hear me.
² When I was in distress, I sought the Lord;
    at night I stretched out untiring hands,
    and I would not be comforted.

³ I remembered you, God, and I groaned;
    I meditated, and my spirit grew faint.^[b]
4 You kept my eyes from closing;
    I was too troubled to speak.
⁵ I thought about the former days,
    the years of long ago;
⁶ I remembered my songs in the night.
    My heart meditated and my spirit asked:

⁷ “Will the Lord reject forever?
    Will he never show his favor again?
⁸ Has his unfailing love vanished forever?
    Has his promise failed for all time?
⁹ Has God forgotten to be merciful?
    Has he in anger withheld his compassion?”

¹⁰ Then I thought, “To this I will appeal:
    the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand.
¹¹ I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
    yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.
¹² I will consider all your works
    and meditate on all your mighty deeds.”

¹³ Your ways, God, are holy.
    What god is as great as our God?
¹⁴ You are the God who performs miracles;
    you display your power among the peoples.
¹⁵ With your mighty arm you redeemed your people,
    the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.

¹⁶ The waters saw you, God,
    the waters saw you and writhed;
    the very depths were convulsed.
¹⁷ The clouds poured down water,
    the heavens resounded with thunder;
    your arrows flashed back and forth.
¹⁸ Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind,
    your lightning lit up the world;
    the earth trembled and quaked.
¹⁹ Your path led through the sea,
    your way through the mighty waters,
    though your footprints were not seen.

²⁰ You led your people like a flock
    by the hand of Moses and Aaron.