A ROAD NOT TRAVELED

A Road Not Traveled

I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them.

Isaiah 42:16

READ ISAIAH 42:10–17

People ask me if I have a five-year plan. How can I plan five years “down the road” on a road I’ve never traveled?

I think back to the 1960s when I was a minister to students at Stanford University. I’d been a physical education major in college and had a lot of fun, but I left no record of being a scholar. I felt wholly inadequate in my new position. Most days I wandered around the campus, a blind man groping in the darkness, asking God to show me what to do. One day a student “out of the blue” asked me to lead a Bible study in his fraternity. It was a beginning.

God doesn’t stand at a juncture and point the way: He’s a guide, not a signpost. He walks with us, leading us down paths we never envisioned. All we have to do is walk alongside Him.

The path won’t be easy; there’ll be “rough places” along the way. But God has promised that He will “turn the darkness into light” and “will not forsake” us (Isaiah 42:16). He’ll be with us all the way.

Paul said that God is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20). We can scheme and envision, but our Lord’s imagination far transcends our plans. We must hold them loosely and see what God has in mind.

By David H. Roper

REFLECT & PRAY

Jesus, I thank You that You have plans for me far beyond my imagination. Help me follow Your lead.

In what ways has God turned your darkness into light? What have you found to be your greatest joy as you walk with Him?

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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT

In Isaiah 42:1-9, God speaks of “my servant,” the first of four prophecies in Isaiah (42:1-9; 49:1-13; 50:4-11; 52:13-53:12) known as the “Servant Songs.” The servant first refers to the nation Israel (Isaiah 41:8; 49:3) and also prophetically to Jesus (Matthew 12:17-20). After telling us of the servant’s mission and compassion (Isaiah 42:1-9), the prophet gives us “a new song” (v. 10), inviting us to “rejoice . . . [and] give glory to the Lord” (vv. 11-12) for His salvation. K. T. Sim