Who knows the way ahead?

We are heading to unchartered waters. Who knows the way ahead? I don’t ever remember such pessimism about the future. You turn on the news and the backdrop is regularly giant Covid19 cells and the newsreader greets you with ominous tones, solemn stares and scary statistics about death rates, unemployment and recession. For those who are isolated at home, this daily diet of gloom fills their living-rooms with fear.

There is much to make us anxious and bring us down. The national prognosis is serious. Many have faced or are facing loss of different kinds and are in mourning and we need to care for one another more than ever.

But we do know the way ahead. We know the One who is the Way. The Psalmist tells us that when God’s people were lost,

You led them across the water, your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen. You led your people like a flock. Psalm 77

Our Shepherd leads his sheep - he doesn’t drive them. We can trust Him to lead us through whatever is ahead. Many of you reading this are facing uncertainty of different kinds - whether it is your health or your employment or something else; God knows and will lead you through it. The apostle Paul faced darker days than ours but proclaimed, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31)

Our culture is increasingly risk-averse and fear-dominated: God’s church must be different. Of course we must observe appropriate social distancing but we must not be locked down in fear. God has our future secure. God is the Alpha and the Omega, our beginning and our end. He knows the way ahead and He loves us with a covenant, promised love, robust enough to hold the boat through every storm.

With thanks to Camilla Field whose photographs can be found at www.fieldnote.co.uk