Your way was through the sea; your paths through the great waters. Your footsteps were not known.
Parallel Translations
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Your way was through the sea; your paths through the great waters. Your footsteps were not known.
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Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.
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(77-20) Thy way was in the sea, and Thy path in the great waters, and Thy footsteps were not known.
Cross-references (7)
Passages linked to Psalms 77:19 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 14:28 The waters returned, and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even all Pharaoh’s army that went in after them into the sea. There remained not so much as one of them.
- Nehemiah 9:11 You divided the sea before them, so that they went through the middle of the sea on the dry land; and you cast their pursuers into the depths, as a stone into the mighty waters.
- Psalms 29:10 Yahweh sat enthroned at the Flood. Yes, Yahweh sits as King forever.
- Habakkuk 3:15 You trampled the sea with your horses, churning mighty waters.
- Psalms 97:2 Clouds and darkness are around him. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
- Nahum 1:3-4 Yahweh is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. Yahweh has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebukes the sea, and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan languishes, and Carmel; and the flower of Lebanon languishes.
- Romans 11:33 Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out!
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 19. Thy ways are in the sea. The miracle…
19. Thy ways are in the sea. The miracle which was wrought in drying up the Red Sea is here again described in different phraseology. What, properly speaking, refers to the Israelites is applied to God, under whose protection and guidance they passed dry-shod through the midst of the Red Sea. It is declared that a path had been opened up for them in a very strange and unusual manner; for the sea was not drained by the skill of man, nor was the river Jordan turned aside from its ordinary course into a different channel, but the people walked through the midst of the waters in which Pharaoh and his whole army were soon after drowned. On this account, it is said, that the footsteps of God were not known, for no sooner had God made the people to pass over than he caused the waters to return to their accustomed course.
The purpose for which this was effected is added in the 20th verse, — the deliverance of the Church: Thou didst lead thy people like a flock. And this deliverance should be regarded by all the godly as affording them the best encouragement to cherish the hope of safety and salvation. The comparison of the people to sheep, tacitly intimates that they were in themselves entirely destitute of wisdom, power, and courage, and that God, in his great goodness, condescended to perform the office of a shepherd in leading through the sea, and the wilderness, and all other impediments, his poor flock, which were destitute of all things, that he might put them in possession of the promised inheritance. This statement is confirmed, when we are told that Moses and Aaron were the persons employed in conducting the people. Their service was no doubt illustrious and worthy of being remembered; but God displayed in no small degree the greatness of his power in opposing two obscure and despised individuals to the fury and to the great and powerful army of one of the proudest kings who ever sat on a throne. What could the rod of an outlaw and a fugitive, and the voice of a poor slave, have done of themselves, against a formidable tyrant and a warlike nation? The power of God then was the more manifest when it wrought in such earthen vessels. At the same time, I do not deny that it is here intended to commend these servants of God, to whom he had committed such an honorable trust.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain For when thou hadst brought over thy people, the…
For when thou hadst brought over thy people, the water returned to her course, and the enemies that thought to have followed them, could not pass through, Exod. 14:28, 29.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 77:19 Thy way [is] in the sea, and…
Psa 77:19 Thy way [is] in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.
Ver. 19. Thy way is in the sea, &c.] A way of thine own miraculous making. God usually goeth a way by himself.
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And thy footsteps are not known] Not so much as is the way or an eagle in the air, the way of a serpent upon a rock, or the way of a ship in the midst of the sea, Pro 30:19. Let God alone with his own work, commit we ourselves to him in well doing, and it shall go well with us, no question of it. Pit viam desperatae salutis, impii foveam insperatae mortis intrant (Oros.).
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Is in the sea; or rather was at that…
Is in the sea; or rather was at that time; thou didst walk and lead thy people in untrodden paths.
Are not known, because the waters suddenly returned and covered them.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Thy way is in the sea,.... In the sea…
Thy way is in the sea,.... In the sea of Suph, as the Targum, the Red sea; it was the Lord that made the way in the sea for the Israelites, and went before them, and led them through it:
and thy path in the great waters; because the word rendered path is written with yod, and is in the plural number, though the Masorites observe, that that letter is redundant, and so the word is singular; hence the Jews imagine there were more paths than one, even twelve, according to the number of the tribes, and which they think is intimated in Psa 136:13,
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and thy footsteps are not known; not by the Egyptians, who assayed to follow after the people of Israel with the Lord at the head of them, nor by any since; for the waters returned and covered the place on which the Israelites went as on dry ground; so that no footsteps or traces were to be seen at all ever since; and such are the ways God, many of them in providence as well as in grace, Rom 11:33, it may be rendered "thy heels", which made the footsteps or impressions; which latter being the works of God, may be seen and known, but not the former, he being invisible; so Gussetius (e) observes.
(e) Comment. Ebr. p. 633.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Not known - Because the water returned and covered…
Not known - Because the water returned and covered them.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 19. Thy way is in the sea] Thou…
Verse 19. Thy way is in the sea] Thou didst walk through the sea, thy path was through a multitude of waters.
Thy footsteps are not known.] It was evident from the effects that God was there: but his track could not be discovered; still he is the Infinite Spirit, without parts, limits, or passions. No object of sense.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 77:19. Thy way is in the sea, &c.…
Psa 77:19. Thy way is in the sea, &c. — Or rather, was, at that time; thou didst walk and lead thy people in untrodden paths; and thy footsteps — Or, though thy footsteps were not seen — God walked before his people through the sea, though he left no footsteps of himself behind him. Thus “the dispensations and ways of God, like the passage through the Red sea, are all full of mercy to his people; but they are also, like that, often unusual, marvellous, inscrutable; and we can no more trace his footsteps than we could have done those of Israel, after the waters had returned to their place again. Let us resolve, therefore, to trust in him at all times; and let us think that we hear Moses saying to us, as he did to the Israelites, when seemingly reduced to the last extremity, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of Jehovah.” — Horne.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Thy way is in the sea - Probably the…
Thy way is in the sea - Probably the literal meaning here is, that God had shown his power and faithfulness in the sea (that is, the Red Sea), in delivering his people; it was there that his true character was seen, as possessing almighty power, and as being able to deliver his people. But this seems to have suggested, also, another idea - that the ways of God, in his providential dealings, were like walking through the sea, where no permanent track would be made, where the waves would close on the path, and where it would be impossible by any footprints to ascertain the way which he had taken. So in regard to his doings and his plans. There is nothing by which man can determine in regard to them. There are no traces by which he can follow out the divine designs - as none can follow one whose path is through the trackless waters. The subject is beyond man’s reach, and there should be no rash or harsh judgment of the Almighty.
And thy path in the great waters - The additional idea here may be, that the ways or plans of God are vast - like the ocean. Even in shallow waters, when one wades through them, the path closes at once, and the way cannot be traced; but God’s goings are like those of one who should move through the great ocean - over a boundless sea - where none could hope to follow him.
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And thy footsteps are not known - The word rendered “footsteps” means properly the print made by the “heel,” and the print made by the foot. The idea here is, that there are no traces in regard to many of the dealings of God, which appear most incomprehensible to us, and which trouble us most, as there can be no footprints left in the waters. We should not venture, therefore, to sit in judgment on the doings of God, or presume that we can understand them.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 19. Thy way is in the sea—So wonderful and…
19. Thy way is in the sea—So wonderful and unsearchable are the ways of God! Pharaoh essayed to follow the divine footsteps, and perished. The true explanation of this sentence is in the last clause of the verse: “Thy footsteps are not known.” God had walked through the sea, and it had closed and left no track. So his invisible footsteps in providence and redemption may not be discovered or followed by curious and presumptuous inquiry. This is the admonition of Ecc_7:14
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 19. Thy way was in the sea,
19. Thy way was in the sea,
And thy paths in the great waters,
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And thy footsteps were not known. (R.V.)
Cp. Hab_3:15. The A.V. path follows the Qrî; R.V. paths the Kthîbh and the Ancient Versions. The sea flowed back where Israel passed, and no visible trace of God’s victorious march was left:—a parable of His method of working. Cp. Job_23:8 ff.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (19) Are not known.—“We know not, they knew not,…
(19) Are not known.—“We know not, they knew not, by what precise means the deliverance was wrought; we know not by what precise track through the gulf the passage was effected. We know not; we need not know. The obscuring, the mystery, here as elsewhere, was part of the lesson. . . . All that we see distinctly is, that through this dark and terrible night, with the enemy pressing close behind, and the driving sea on either side, He led His people like sheep by the hand of Moses and Aaron” (Stanley, Jewish Church, i. 128).
To some minds the abruptness of the conclusion of the psalm marks it as unfinished. But no better end could have been reached in the poet’s perplexity than that to which he has been led by his musings on the past, the thought of the religious aids ready to his hand, in the faith and worship left by Moses and Aaron. We are reminded of him who recalled the thoughts of the young man, searching for a higher ideal of duty, back to the law and obedience. Or if the psalm is rather an expression of the feeling of the community than of an individual, there is a pointed significance in the conclusion given to all the national cries of doubt and despair—the one safe course was to remain loyal and true to the ancient institutions.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Thy way is in the sea; rather, was in…
Thy way is in the sea; rather, was in the sea. Thou wentest, i.e. , in person before thy people in their passage across the dry bed of the Red Sea; truly there, though invisible. (comp. Exo_15:13 Psa_78:52, 53 106:9 Isa_63:13) And thy path in the great waters; literally, thy paths. So the Revised Version. And thy footsteps are not known; rather, were not. No one perceived thy presence, much less discerned thy footsteps. As in external nature and in the human heart, God worked secretly.
The profound mystery which surrounds all thoughts of God.
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"Thy way is in the sea," etc. A new word has been added of late to the English language a brace of new words, as dismal in meaning, as uncouth in sound "agnosticism." The fact is not new. (1Co_1:21) An agnostic is one who believes it impossible to know that one central, supreme, primary truth, apart from which all knowledge is vanity. Nature, science, conscience, love, like sides of an immense pyramid, slope upward; but the summit is in cloud. Reason pierces the cloud, and cries, "God is there!" Faith soars into the light which thick darkness veils, and proclaims, "God is love!" But the agnostic reckons Faith unscientific, Reason going beyond her province; doubts if there be anything but cloud. So when Moses went up into the thick darkness where God was, the people, who thought the flesh pots of Egypt much more real than the voice from Sinai, said, "As for this Moses,...we know not what is become of him." Christianity and agnosticism are so irreconcilably opposed, that sympathy on the part of a Christian towards an agnostic seems difficult. Yet you cannot understand any one with whom you have no sympathy; and when you neither sympathize nor understand, you have little chance of doing good. Agnosticism contains a kernel of Christian truth, and therefore presents a point of contrast for Christian sympathy, viz. the profound mystery which surrounds all our thoughts of God, setting strait limits to our knowledge, baffling all attempts of human reason to pass those limits. (Job_11:7 1Ti_6:16)
I THE MYSTERY OF CREATION. Our senses show us the surface of universe phenomenon; the harmonious working of the mighty machine; the endless flow, through birth, growth, decay, of the river of life. But where is the moving power, the .fountain, the loom in which this wondrous web is being woven, and the hand which weaves? Science pierces below the surface; shows everywhere unchanging law, faultless adjustment, interchangeable forces, rules of number, measure, weight, mutual attraction and fitness. But we cannot stop short in these. "Evolution" is supposed to explain it all. But what explains evolution? As Mr. Spencer has rightly observed, we should rather call the process of nature "involution," because at each step and stage something new and surprising comes in. Process is not cause. When, e.g., a number of primary atoms enter into combination, not at haphazard, but in fixed. proportions of number and weight, and a new substance, with wholly new properties, is produced whence came these properties? Had the atoms continued apart, they would have had no existence to all eternity. Why do the atoms attract and cleave to one another? Whence their violent movement? Where are those laws of number, weight, proportion, which cannot exist in the atoms, yet which every atom so absolutely obeys? To talk of laws is no explanation; it is the very existence of laws we want explained. Science can give no reply to these or ten thousand such questions. The Bible gathers up all lesser mysteries in the one primaeval mystery with which its first sentence sets us face to face not to reason or comprehend, but to worship: "In the beginning, God created.
II THE MYSTERY OF PROVIDENCE. By "providence" we understand the Creator"s wise, merciful, universal, sovereign control over all his works, especially human life and the welfare of his children. We often compare nature, or human life, to a web incessantly weaving; but this is a very feeble image. Instead of parallel threads, crossed at right angles by another set of parallel threads, we see countless millions of independent lines of natural force and of human will crossing at every conceivable angle every moment with incalculable speed. Yet the pattern of God"s purpose is being woven. "No man liveth to himself." Sometimes in concert, often in discord, mostly in ignorance or disregard, we are influencing one another, depending on one another. Yet "we know that all things work together for good to them that love God." Daily experience confirms the Bible teaching, that in what is to our eyes this inconceivable tangle of will, chance, and law, every thread lies under God"s eye, obeys his will. Illust.: History of Joseph. (cf. Gen_15:13 Gen_42:36 Gen_45:7, Gen_45:8) Miracles are not more wonderful than providence (special reference here to the passage of the Red Sea). No sharp line between them in Scripture. No reason to think "natural laws" broken in one case or other, any more than man breaks natural laws when he drives his trains through mountains, makes iron float on the ocean, compels wind, water, steam, lightning, to work his engines. (see Psa_119:89 Dan_4:35)
III THE MYSTERY OF GOD"S DEALINGS WITH OUR RACE AND WITH INDIVIDUALS. Scripture shows one line of Divine purpose from beginning to end of world. History shows all the most energetic progressive races brought into contact with the Bible and the Church of God. But why the slow progress of the gospel; the huge stagnating masses of heathendom; the late birth of science; the obstinate prevalence of war, tyranny, slavery? If we say (rightly) sin is at the bottom of all, this only runs up all other mysteries into the deepest and darkest. Compared with all this, what we call "mysteries" in our daily life seem simple, especially with the key of promise. (Heb_12:5-10) Yet how dark they often are!
IV Above, beneath, around, behind, all these mysteries is THAT OF WHICH WE SCARCELY DARE SPEAK THE MYSTERY OF GOD HIMSELF his eternity, omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, righteousness, love. (Psa_139:6) This is a lesson, not of unbelief, but of faith. A God whom we could comprehend, in whom we found no unfathomable depth of mystery, would be no more the God of the Bible than of nature. Yet "we know what we worship". (Joh_4:22) The cloud covers the mount, but the path is open. "We draw near". (Exo_20:21 Isa_45:15 Heb_10:19, Heb_10:22) See how from this awful view of Divine mystery the psalmist passes like a change in music from a stormy minor to a cheerful major, and restful close: "Thou leddest," etc. We know all we need to know. Not a question concerning God, on which our welfare practically turns, but the Bible has a clear, full answer. (Joh_1:18 Joh_17:3 1Jn_4:16)
The mysteries of Providence.
"We know not, Israel knew not, by what precise means their deliverance from the hosts of Pharaoh was wrought; we know not by what precise track through the gulf the passage was effected. We know not, and we need not know; the obscurity, the mystery here, as elsewhere, was part of the lesson All that we see distinctly is that through this dark and terrible night, with the enemy pressing close behind, and the driving sea on either side, he led his people like sheep by the hand of Moses and Aaron" (Stanley). And that great event of the Exodus, the mercy and mystery of which were so alike conspicuous, has often been taken as the symbol of those manifold and often mysterious dealings of God with his people in which we can do nothing but believe and trust that, through these deep waters and by these unknown ways, he will bring us out into a full deliverance from all that oppresses us. And for those who trust him this is assuredly what he will do. But the mind cannot keep, and, indeed, it need not, from reverently asking why God"s providence is often so full of mystery as well as of pain to men? Calamities frightful in their nature, desolations terrible and widespread, so that human life at times becomes like the prophet"s scroll, which was full, both within and without, of mourning, lamentation, and woe. What is to be said of these things? Certainly they are instrumental in much that is good.
HUMAN LIFE OWES MORE TO ITS PAINS THAN TO ITS PLEASURES.
1. How would faith be educated and developed but for the demands made upon it by the trials of life? Trust in God is an absolute essential to the strength, the joy, the power, and the permanence of the Christian life. There must, then, be occasions and demands for its exercise, and the trials of life supply them.
2. What a spur to invention earthly calamities are! Perhaps there is no one single safeguard against such calamities in which we now rejoice, but owed its existence to their occurrence, and the pressure they put upon men to discover such safeguard. Is there a lighthouse anywhere along our coasts but where some gallant ship has, for want of it, gone down with many precious lives?
3. What power there is in lifes sorrows to bind together hearts that otherwise would have remained apart! There is a blessed uniting power in sorrow.
4. The calamities of life, when death seems to reign in terrible power, serve to startle the conscience of sinful men, and, as it were, force them to think of God and things eternal. (Isa_26:9)
5. They strengthen the argument for the future life. The justice and goodness of God could not be maintained, if "in this life only we have hope.
6. The good man is by them drawn nearer to God, and hides the more closely within the blessed shelter of God"s never-failing love.
7. They serve as revelations of character to the self-deceived, and show such how far other than they have thought they really are.
8. They teach us to sympathize with the sorrowful. Even Christ learned through the things that he suffered.
9. Suffering is the way to life. "Through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom.
10. They show, what men are apt to forget, that here we have no continuing city. S.C.
God"s unknown ways.
"Thy footsteps were not known;" that is, they were not known or understood beforehand. They were not, they could not have been, anticipated. It is said that "the unexpected is the thing that happens." And so it is in connection with the ways of God. Man can but seldom find out the Almighty intent. God"s "ways are higher than our ways, and his thoughts than our thoughts." The life of a godly man is full of the "surprises of grace;" and so he is taught lessons of trust. Recall the scene on the Egyptian side of the Red Sea. Observe that such were the hopeless features of the situation, that a way of rescue never came to the minds of any of the leaders. They must "stand still, and see the salvation of God;" and to the surprise of every one, his way proved to be "in the sea, and his path in the great waters." Of God"s ways with his people, three things may be said.
I EXPERIENCE CANNOT SUGGEST THEM. We fall back on our experience to guide our conduct under new circumstances. What happened before will explain what is happening now. But the sphere of human experiences is strictly limited. Men never do things that somebody has not done before them. "There has no temptation taken us but such as is common to man." But God is under no limitation to the circle of human experiences. He does, he is constantly doing, new things. Life for every one of us is like the story of the children of Israel, full of Divine surprises, and we are never "straitened in God." Illustrations may be taken from Old Testament history, in which God delivered his people in ways which experience could not have suggested.
II THOUGHT CANNOT ANTICIPATE THEM. "It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." In a similar way, show how man"s thought is limited by man"s limited knowledge. No man has compassed the entire circle of Divine possibilities. The man who knows most must say, "These are parts of his ways." So man has not the material for deciding what God will be sure to do in any given case.
III TRUST CAN ALWAYS WAIT FOR THEM, sure that God will unfold them in the best times and in the best ways. God"s people are as safe as Israel at the Red Sea. God"s unknown way for them will be revealed to them in good time. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 19. Thy way is in the sea. Far…
Ver. 19. Thy way is in the sea. Far down in secret channels of the deep is thy roadway; when thou wilt thou canst make a sea a highway for thy glorious march.
And thy path in the great waters. There, where the billows surge and swell, thou still dost walk; Lord of each crested wave.
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And thy footsteps are not known. None can follow thy tracks by foot or eye. Thou art alone in thy glory, and thy ways are hidden from mortal ken. Thy purposes thou wilt accomplish, but the means are often concealed, yea, they need no concealing, they are in themselves too vast and mysterious for human understanding. Glory be to thee, O Jehovah.
Whole Psalm. See Psalms on "Ps 77:1" for further information.
Ver. 19. Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, etc. Until lately, not much was known of oceanic currents, nor of their influences on the condition of particular localities and the intercourse of man with man. They are now seen to be the way or path of the Creator in the great waters. Numerous agencies tend to the production of these currents. Amongst them we may reckon the propagation of the tide wave in its progress over the globe, the duration and strength of certain winds, the variations in density which seawater undergoes in different latitudes, and at different depths, by change of temperature, and the quantity of salt it contains, and by the hourly alterations of atmospheric pressure which take place within the tropics. The oceanic currents are nearly constant in breadth, crossing the sea in many directions. Long bands of seaweed carried by the currents shew at once their velocity, and the line of demarcation between the waters at rest and the waters in motion. Between the tropics there is a general movement of the sea from east to west, called the equatorial current, supposed to be due to the trade winds, and the progress of the tide wave. There are narrower currents carrying warm water to higher and cold water to lower latitudes. Edwin Sidney, in "Conversations on the Bible and Science." 1860.
Ver. 19. Thy way is in the sea, where no man can wade, except God be before him, but where any man may walk if God take him by the hand and lead him through. David Dickson.
Ver. 19. Thy footsteps are not known. He often goeth so much out of our sight, that we are unable to give an account of what he doeth, or what he is about to do. Frequently the pillar of divine providence is dark throughout, to Israelites as well as Egyptians; so that his own people understand not the riddles, till he is pleased to be his own interpreter, and to lead them into his secrets. Samuel Slater(-1704), in "The Morning Exercises."
Ver. 19. Thy footsteps are not known. That is, they are not always known; or, they are not known in all things; yea, they are not altogether known in anything. Joseph Caryl.
Ver. 19. Thy footsteps are not known. Upon some affair of great consequence which had occurred in some providential dispensation, Luther was very importunate at the throne of grace to know the mind of God in it; and it seemed to him as if he heard God speak to his heart thus: "I am not to be traced." Referring to this incident, one adds, "If he is not to be traced, he may be trusted; "and that religion is of little value which will not enable a man to trust God where he can neither trace nor see him. But there is a time for everything beneath the sun, and the Almighty has his `times and seasons.' It has been frequently with my hopes and desires, in regard to providence, as with my watch and the sun, which has often been ahead of true time; I have gone faster than providence, and have been forced to stand still and wait, or I have been set back painfully. That was a fine sentiment of Flavel, "Some providence, like Hebrew letters, must be read backwards." Quoted in "Christian Treasury, "1849. Author not mentioned.
Ver. 19. See also notes on Ps 77:13.
Ver. 19.
I. The ways of God to men are peculiar: In the sea:
thy path, etc.
II. They are uniform, they lie in regular footsteps.
III. They are inscrutable: like the path of the ship upon
the waters, not of the ploughshare on the land.
Ver. 19. God's way is in the sea. In things changeable, ungovernable, vast, unfathomable, terrible, overwhelming, the Lord has the ruling power.
Psalms 77:20*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Thy way is in the sea, and Thy path…
Psa_77:19-20
Thy way is in the sea, and Thy path in the great waters, and Thy footsteps are not known.
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The perplexing force in human life
I. There are evils in our way, unseen by us, from which it will be Gods care to deliver us.
1. An evil may be in our way, but too far off for us to see. It does not need to be very far off, to be beyond the range of our vision. If it lies only just outside the boundary of the day through which we are passing, it is as completely beyond our vision as if it were in another world. God sees the threatening danger, and in love, perhaps, turns our feet for a day or two out of the path we were treading, by bringing about some change in our course that we did not anticipate, and cannot understand. As we saw not the danger, we cannot understand Gods way with us, in leading us safely past. To us, His way is in the sea.
2. An evil may he also springing up at our side, unknown to us. Evils do spring up--in habits--acquaintanceships--local surroundings, etc. Being blind to the danger, the event that takes us out of its way is a mystery.
3. Moreover, according to the teaching of the Scriptures, there are plots and designs formed against us by the powers of darkness. Of these we are necessarily ignorant. Lord Raglan suddenly ordered the English lines to divide, when they were marching,--as far as the English soldiers knew,--right upon the Russian forces. But they soon perceived that the Commander-in-Chief had divided them only because he saw more than they could see, viz., that a company of the enemy was marching round the side of the hill, to take the English unawares on the flank. May not God do something like this with us, that we may escape snares laid for our feet; His movements being mysterious and perplexing to us, simply because we see not the snare out of which He is seeking to keep us?
II. There is also good, unperceived by us, unknown to us, with which God is seeking to enrich us. Standing in the light of the Cross, we are driven to conclude that Gods first purpose with us must be to bring us into a state of reconciliation with Himself; and having accomplished that, by winning us to a personal acceptance of the Saviour, His next purpose with us must be our sanctification: the filling of us with all the fulness of God. But how shall this be done? The Spirit of God is the efficient cause of all spiritual growth, but the gracious Spirit may, and will, work along the lines of that wonderful providence which we are apt to speak of as a sphere lying outside the operations of Divine grace.
III. There are bearings and connections in our life and lot, of which we know very little. In the wise adjustment of these, Gods way, to us, must often be in the sea. A gardener sometimes removes a plant, not because it needs removing for its own sake, but because it is keeping the air or sunlight from some other plant near. So possibly the Great Husbandman treats us, bringing about some change in our life and lot that is to shield another from harm or to further their good. Our one great need is faith in God. He guides his hands wittingly. He is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working. As for God, His way is perfect. (Henry Starmer.)
The way, path, and footsteps of God
I. Gods way is in the sea. The affairs of life are in many cases manifestly beyond our own control; it is true, that much of the evil that befalls us is owing to our own improvidence; and to all appearance, our own energy and foresight have much to do with success in our career; still, are there not abundant fluctuations and changes, all of which tell us that we are not the masters even of our own affairs? Ask any one who has had much experience of life, and he will tell you that, like the ocean, it is full of changes and of storms. Nor are Gods children exempt from these; their experience of life is the same as that of others: they are carried by these storms where they would not be; and where they would be, thither they cannot go. Now, for us it should ever be sufficient, that we know His way is in the sea.
II. Gods path is in the great waters. He not only acts, but does so according to a fixed and definite plan, His course of action being spoken of as a path. Now, we know well that when men navigate the sea, they must do so by a compass and a chart; that they cannot expect to find a path upon the waters within the bounds of which they are to sail; but God has His own path marked out, and He sees it as plainly amid all fluctuations, and despite all enemies, as we do the track of an ordinary road.
III. Gods footsteps and not known. What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter, is said to us, even as it was to the disciples of old. There are times when it must be enough for us simply to know that He is acting, and that on our behalf, and for our good. At such seasons we must pre-eminently walk by faith, and not by sight. He chooses that the method of His dealings should be hidden, and we have no right to urge Him to withdraw the veil. And how often has there been a footstep of God where we have not discerned it! We had an illness, or a bereavement, or a disappointment, or a loss; the world said, How unfortunate! but God passed our way; the world could not see His foot-print--blessed were we if we could. (P. B. Power, M. A.)
The mysteries of Providence
I. God exercises a constant providential superintendence over the affairs of His people. This is evident from--
1. Scripture.
2. Experience of men in all ages.
II. The superintendence of God over the affairs of His people is attended by many dispensations of inscrutable mystery. This ought not to appear surprising, and ought not to produce any emotion of repining or of discontent, if two facts be considered and duly weighed. The first is, that our faculties are naturally imperfect and beclouded, physically and morally incompetent to understand much of the dispensations of a Being like the Almighty; and the second is, that the Almighty has reasons, doubtless sufficient and important, for designedly concealing from ourselves a large proportion of the course of His providence, both for designs associated with His own glory, and our future and eternal welfare.
III. The mysterious dispensations attending the providential superintendence of God are regulated by wisdom and by grace. Consider this in the cases of Jacob, Joseph, and Job. And the time is not far distant when we, in the enjoyment of the good land and the large which God has prepared for them that love Him, shall be called to remember the way by which He has been pleased to lead us, to humble us and to prove us, to know what was in our hearts, whether we would keep His commandments or no, and to recollect that as a father chasteneth his son, so the Lord our God hath chastened us and then it will be proved, if we believe it not now, that the light afflictions, which were but for a moment, have wrought out for us that far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
IV. The character thus assigned to the mysterious dispensations associated with the Divine superintendence ought to produce powerful results upon all Christian and pious minds.
1. We should exercise a spirit of entire contentment under the most severe dispensations, which Divine Providence may impose.
2. We should carefully apply all the dispensations of Divine Providence to the practical improvement of our own characters. (J. Parsons.)
Gods way unsearchable
I. The doings of God embrace a wide range. Science has established the fact, that you cannot disturb the smallest part of the watery or atmospheric world without disturbing the whole of it. So in the moral world; all events, however small, have a bearing on events great and distant. God governs the life of one man in connection with all men. What happens to-day is only one link in the chain, which stretches through ages, and is connected with events, it may be, of distant lands.
II. The traces of Gods doings are not consecutively seen. Earthly soil which receives an impress retains it, but what impress can water retain? You may make the impression, but you cannot fix it. So may you interpret a sorrow; but its connection with your future history you may not see. The mark of Gods finger you may see to-day, but to-morrow the impress is gone. Providence, like a vast and complicated machine, can only be comprehended, in all its complex arrangements, by Him who framed it.
III. The reason of Gods doings is often beyond all human comprehension. His paths are in deep waters. The origin of moral evil--the access of fallen spirits to, and their mode of operation on, mans spiritual nature--human responsibility, and Gods eternal decrees, involve questions which by man may never be answered; but enough for us should it be that His footsteps are in deep waters. The mysteries of heaven, however, we must believe to conduce to universal good. Some we know to be positive blessings. Great, indeed, is the mystery of godliness; and yet what fact is more glorious in its character, and more blessed in its practical bearings? (W. Bealby.)
Divine providence incomprehensible
I. God does exercise a universal providence over the world. No material object can move, and no living creature can act, without the constant and controlling agency of Him who made and preserves the world. They must all necessarily live and move, as well as have their being in Him.
II. God is incomprehensible in the exercise of His universal providence. This appears from--
1. Scripture.
2. Reason. As all the motions in a watch originate from the mainspring, so all the reasons of Gods conduct, in preserving and governing the world, originate from His ultimate design in creation, which is too great, too wise, and too good, for any created being to grasp, and therefore must necessarily and for ever remain incomprehensible.
3. Fact. The ways of Providence have always been found to be unsearchable by all intelligent creatures. Scarcely a day passes but every person sees something in respect to himself, or in respect to others, which excites his admiration, and surpasses his comprehension.
III. Improvement.
1. If God be incomprehensible in the government of the world, then this is a complete answer to all the objections that have ever been made against His universal providence.
2. If God be incomprehensible in His providence, then it is as difficult for mankind to know why He bestows favours upon them as why He takes them away.
3. If God be incomprehensible in all the ways of His providence, then all the dispensations of His providence towards mankind are proper trials.
4. If God be incomprehensible in His ways of providence, then there is the same ground of submission under heavy, as under light afflictions.
5. If the ways of providence are incomprehensible, then all things in this world are suited to make all men religious. God carries them all in His holy and sovereign hand, and is practically speaking to them every day and every moment.
6. If God is incomprehensible in His providence, then it is easy to see that He can order things, so as to bring light out of darkness, good out of evil, and joy out of sorrow. (N. Emmons, D. D.)
The teaching of the tides
I. The tidal wave. Just as there are high and low tides of the ocean, so we have periods when everything is apparently in our favour, wind and wave working conjointly to bring us to our desired haven. It is also true that in the spiritual life we have our neap tides and spring tides. Seasons of enervation, when scarcely a ripple can be recognized on our monotonous life, energy is almost spent, faith is weak, God seems afar off, and we find it hard to pray, and life with its care and sin presents almost a dead calm. However, we have not always this experience of creeping slowly along; we have also our spring tides when we are carried forward as by a mighty flood. With a renewed energy, life is made worth living, irksome tasks become easy, a gracious influence fills our soul, and in an ecstasy of joy we are borne onward and upward.
II. High tides. Have we not had our exceptional experiences when God came preciously near, and gave us visions and revelations of Himself? These are seasons of purity of life, devotion of service, implicit confidence in God. We discover at such times that we possess faculties of which we were ignorant. The whole of our spiritual being is made receptive.
III. The obstacles. There are several obstacles which vary the regulating tides; e.g. the stars, contour of the land, seasons, conflicting currents, etc., affect the tidal wave more or less, varying its progress and force. Let us guard against placing, or allowing to remain, any obstacles in the entrance of our souls, but with a lull surrender to the will of God, allow Him to have entire control of our lives. Let us open our hearts to receive the highest floodtide which He may send, even the very presence of God Himself--the Spirit of God dwelling in us.
IV. Tideless rivers and inland seas. Such rivers as the Nile, Rhone, and Po feel no effect of the tidal wave, beyond their month, whilst in the case of the Thames its force is felt as far as Teddington, about eighty miles from the sea. Persons living on the banks of the Severn may sometimes see a head of water forty feet high rushing up the river with great violence. The effect of the tide is to prevent the accumulation of mud and formation of ice at the mouths of the river; it also makes the river more useful, being navigable. In a similar manner as the high tides of spiritual influences flow into our lives, they rid us of collected debris--hindrances which choke our lives and mar our usefulness--evil habits, questionable amusements, shady practices, of which we could not ordinarily strip ourselves, are all swept away under such gracious influences.
V. Tide-tables. In almanacks and elsewhere we find tables which give with fair accuracy time and place of these exceptionally high tides, as well as the ordinary spring and neap tides, but no means of thus calculating times and seasons of spiritual visitation. We can doubtless aid the tide of power and usefulness by obeying the Divine laws which have been made known; and certainly guard against any obstacles and hindrances to its flow. It is they that wait upon the Lord that shall renew their strength. (J. B. Evans.)
The mysterious dealings of God
Our daily papers are full of sad histories. One day it is an accident in a coal-pit: one hundred lives lost. Another day it is some frightful disaster on a railway, or a shipwreck, or an outbreak of disease in some place. And when we look at the daily history of the world, we read of earthquakes, wars, pestilence, and massacres. And as we read, the question arises in our minds--why does the compassionate All-Father permit these horrors to take place? And if we, mere spectators of these afflictions from afar off, are ready to ask this question, with what agonized earnestness must it rise up in the breasts of the sufferers themselves! And looking closer and inquiring into the lives of our fellow-men, does not the same startling problem constantly appear? How often we see the desolate widow with her crowd of helpless children! How often we notice good and useful lives taken away whilst the worthless are still permitted to live! Now, all these cases bring us to this point--do calamities and afflictions happen by chance or are they appointed by a great Ruler of the world? And as Christians we answer, that affliction cometh not forth of the dust, but conies from the hand of God; but when we are further pressed to explain Gods dealings, we can only reply, His path is in the great waters, and His footsteps are not known. And next, we may remark that this apparent contradiction between the character of God and His dealings with individuals, leads us to feel the need and value of a revelation. God has not left us to the stammering voice of natural religion, but He has drawn aside the veil and revealed Himself. He has sent us a letter, in which He tells us of His love, and bids us trust in Him, through the gloom and darkness, and He will bring us into the perfect light; that though His footsteps are not known, yet He leads Israel by the hand. And as we reflect on these mysterious points of Gods dealings with men, we see how they bring into light and accentuate the great doctrine of the faith; the truth that there is a future existence, when the sorrows of this life shall be balanced by the joys which cannot yet be conceived. It is the last great Day of Judgment which will declare the justice and righteousness of God. Thus, when we hear of terrible accidents and wholesale suffering we can take comfort in two ways--firstly, that God may overrule evil for good, by arranging that the accident or the misfortune may lead to good results. Thus the terrible disasters from fire-damp led Sir Humphrey Davy to invent the pitmans lamp, which has saved so many lives. The dangers of high-pressure engines, and the fearful explosions of the American steamboats, made the safety-valve popular and universal at last. The cruel ravages of disease and infection have taught men, by the very motives of selfish dread, to take up sanitary cares for others. And looking beyond these advantages which result in this world, we secondly can see how, in the longer sphere of a better world, God can compensate those who have suffered here. This fills us with confidence and hope, though as yet we cannot trace His footsteps, for the dark waters roll over them. (J. W. Hardman, LL. D.)
The trackless ocean and its master pilot
I have taken a great interest in pilots, in their office, and in their work. After a long and monotonous voyage it is quite at event, as you may judge, to find a fresh face on board. Every eye is strained to look at the pilot as his little boat comes dancing over the waters; and when he springs on board we feel almost inclined to caress him, and we wish to know what is the latest news. I like to see him standing on the bridge, or on the quarter-deck, in command for the time being. Even the captain must take second place now. I like to feel the sense of perfect security which comes when the pilot is on board. He knows the place so well. It is his business to steer the ship through the narrows and up the tortuous channel.. He has been at it for years. He can, as they say, almost feel his way up that channel in the dark; and as we draw near the shore, the passengers feel that the time of anxiety is over. A sense of relief goes all over the ship. We had every confidence in the captain when there was plenty of sea-room, but on our coming near the harbour, it was some comfort to find on board a man who knew its every turn and twist. Since Gods way is in the sea, I want to ask you whether He is your pilot, or whether you are trying to steer yourself. (Thomas Spurgeon.)
Gods way incomprehensible to man
Take a little lad of ten years, and put him into an assembly of statesmen discussing the gravest questions of diplomacy and international law, to carry documents and messages from one desk to another. In that assembly the lad has a definite place and a definite duty which he can understand and do. But suppose he should refuse to carry a paper of which he did not understand the meaning and bearing. Suppose he should throw up his position as page, on the ground that he was not made acquainted with the whole course of complicated negotiation carried on in that chamber. Would any sane man regard the boy aa an injured being? Would any one think of reproaching those statesmen with unkindness or injustice? Would not the lad be simply laughed at? Even supposing that every man in the chamber were disposed to grant his ridiculous demand and to explain the business to him--could they do it? Could the childs mind grasp the destinies of nations? And yet, if this is absurd, what shall be said of a finite being, with his scanty knowledge, with his limited capacity, with his little range of experience, refusing allegiance to a God whose purposes comprehend eternity, and move in orbits vaster than his utmost reach of thought can even begin to conceive; in whose plan the countless details of all being in the eternity, past and future, are grouped and unified--what, I repeat, shall be said of the stupendous folly of a poor little man, the difference between whom and God is barely shadowed by the difference between a statesman and a babe, yet who refuses allegiance to God because he cannot, by searching, find out the Almighty to perfection? (Marvin R. Vincent, D. D.)
Thou leddest Thy people.
The true philosophy of life
Thou leddest Thy people. The whole philosophy of life is here, here for us no less than for Israel. If we think we need some other theory of living because the Israelites were only poor slaves, and we intelligent nineteenth-century Christians, we are greatly mistaken. After all these centuries, God has nothing to add to this, that men let Him lead them, in His own way, through the sea if so He will it. The true philosophy of life is summed up here, in simply following God. Over the Apennines there is a wonderful railroad, on which, in a space of less than seventy miles, one passes through forty-three tunnels, some of them of very great length. The road is full of magnificent outlooks, but every few moments you go plunging into a tunnel. And certainly the traveller over this road would show his good sense by sitting still and being carried along the line of the rail; and not by getting out at the first station, and striking into the mountains to find another path, because he did not like the tunnels. He would be almost sure to be lost and to starve to death. The road has been built to carry him to his destination by the shortest way, and he will get there more quickly and safely through the tunnels than in any other way. Oh, if we could only believe the same thing of Gods way! We want to build our own road, all out in the light; and the consequence is, it is much less direct than Gods, and much more dangerous, and we cannot bring it out where we wish. And remember, it is not all tunnels either: in the regions of the high rocks, where the tunnels are needed, are the most glorious prospects. If Gods way is partly in darkness, the light places are full of beauty, commanding such outlooks of mercy and love as ought to reconcile us to the intervals of darkness, I remember once, in Italy, climbing a mountain up which a broad, fine carriage road led almost to the summit; but there the road suddenly ceased, and nothing appeared but a narrow footpath leading round the shoulder of the mountain, and that soon dwindled into a sheep-track; and the sun beat down with terrible power, and the way was rough, and more than once I was tempted to go back; but never shall I forget the vision which burst upon me as at last I reached the end of the narrow way: it repaid all the toil. So, I say, do not be afraid of the narrow way if God turns you into it. The great thing is that He lead you; and if He lead, even though His footsteps are not known, you know that His way is in holiness, and ends at last in eternal good. (Marvin R. Vincent, D. D.)
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Psa_78:1-72
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.