Psalm 77:13,19
His way is “in the sanctuary,” and His way is “in the sea.” Now there is a great difference between these two things. First of all, God’s way is in the sanctuary where all is light, all is clear. There is no mistake there. There is nothing in the least degree that is harassing to the spirit. On the contrary, it is when the poor troubled one enters into the sanctuary and views things there in the light of God that he sees the end of all else — everything that is entangled, the end of which he cannot find on the earth.
We have the same thing in Psalm 73. “When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.” That is, in the sanctuary of God everything is understood, no matter how difficult, trying, and painful, as regards ourselves or others. When we once enter there, we are in the place of God’s light and God’s love, and then, whatever the difficulty may be, we understand all about it.
But not only is God’s way in the sanctuary (and when we are there, all is rest and peace), but God’s way is in the sea. He walks where we cannot always trace His footsteps.
In the Sea
God moves mysteriously at times, as we all know. There are ways of God which are purposely to try us. I need not say that it is not at all as if God had pleasure in our perplexities. Nor is it as if we had no sanctuary to draw near to, where we can rise above it. But still there is a great deal in the ways of God that must be left entirely in His own hands. The way of God is, thus, not only in the sanctuary, but also in the sea. And yet, what we find even in connection with His footsteps being in the sea is, “Thou leddest Thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.” That was through the sea; afterward, it was through the wilderness. But it had been through the sea. The beginnings of the ways of God with His people were there, because from first to last God must be the confidence of the saint. It may be an early lesson of his soul, but it never ceases to be the thing to learn.
In the Sanctuary
How happy to know that while the sanctuary is open to us, and God Himself is there, He is nearer still to us. As it is said, “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). This is a most precious thing, because there we are in the sanctuary at once and brought to God Himself. And I am bold to say that heaven itself would be but a small matter if it were not that we are brought to God. This is better than any freedom from trial, better than any blessing, to be in the presence of the One to whom we belong, who is Himself the source of all blessing and joy. That we are brought to Him now is infinitely precious. There we are in the sanctuary brought to God.
But still there are other ways of God outside the sanctuary — in the sea. And there we often find ourselves at a loss. If we are occupied with the sea itself or with trying to scan God’s footsteps there, then they will not be known. But confidence in God Himself is always the strength of faith. May the Lord grant us increasing simplicity and quietness in the midst of all that which we pass through, for His name’s sake.
C. H. Mackintosh