Awaken: Day 4

Remember, you are dust and to dust you will return.SCRIPTURE READING - DAY 4

Isaiah 42:16

I will lead blind Israel down a new path,
guiding them along an unfamiliar way.
I will brighten the darkness before them
and smooth out the road ahead of them.
Yes, I will indeed do these things; I will
not forsake them. (NLT)


MEDITATION by Sarah Woolley

A new path. A new journey. That was what I was looking for early on in my walk
with Christ when I set out to trek the 475–mile El Camino de Santiago, a historic pilgrimage across Northern Spain.

What I didn’t realize was that I was embarking upon my own 36-day wilderness experience, one that proved to be thorny and unpredictable—where the way, at times, was barely visible.

As a single woman traveling alone, I was bound to run into some challenges. But as I walked the 9.3 miles per day side by side with other pilgrims, what I discovered was that the most difficult challenges came from deep within myself.

Along the way, I met my own frustration and insolence toward God—strong temptations regarding food and lust, a grief, loneliness, and boredom that I’d never realized existed within my own soul.

Just before my journey, I was at an adventure Bible school program and had absorbed some biblical truths there. And those truths took root in my soul on the Camino, one day at a time, in the midst of such challenges which accosted me right up until my last day.

I came to realize not only that every day truly does have enough trouble of its own (Matthew 6:34), but that his mercies are abundantly new every morning (Lamentations 3:23). I came to believe amidst many times of feeling lost that he knew where I was going.

Finally, I was confronted by a new truth, which I am still digesting: the trouble I was going through was like Jesus’ journey to the cross. He experienced suffering along the way, but Jesus ultimately brought glory to his Father's name (John 12:27-28). I realized that by completing my own journey, even through my struggles, I would bring glory to God.

Desiring God’s guidance more than ever, I was especially heartened by the characteristic arrows of the Camino—painted in yellow on a street or a building—that always seemed to appear just when I needed to see them.

Through anger and fear, loneliness and desire, I found my way to the endpoint—Santiago—and by then I knew without a doubt that I owed every step to the Lord.


REFLECTION


What trials have you experienced during which you felt lost or blind?


What tough spots is God guiding you through right now in order to help you relate better to Christ’s own trials in his walk to the cross?


How might you take hold of his hand better in order to move through those in confidence?