Help for the Path

Are we in great trouble? There is a promise that works for our good, "I will be with him in trouble" (Psalm 91:15). God does not bring His people into troubles, and leave them there. He will stand by them; He will hold their heads and hearts when they are fainting. And there is another promise, "He is their strength in the time of trouble" (Psalm 37:39). "Oh," says the soul, "I shall faint in the day of trial." But God will be the strength of our hearts; He will join His forces with us. Either He will make His hand lighter, or our faith stronger. [1]

Or, as Corrie Ten Boom said, "If God sends us on strong paths, we are provided strong shoes."

Part of the problem with trials is the uncertainty of it all. We can't fathom how it's going to work out, and we don't believe we have the strength to see it through. Setting out into the unknown is terrifying—we want to know the way. And that's what a trial is, for the most part: venturing out in the unknown.

But like Watson said, God does not bring us into it to leave us there. He will be our guide. We might not be able to see the way, but he knows the way, and he will not abandon us. He will bring us through. Often in ways we don't expect, and often not the way we would choose, but always in the best way for us.

[1] Thomas Watson, All Things for Good, page 16.