The Invisible Shepherd

It was one of those difficult years. We were short of money. I was trying to finish a degree and keep our car running. My wife had another miscarriage. There was a group at the church who didn’t like the pastor. I was that pastor. Things got so tough I began wondering where God was. He seemed to have disappeared from view.

That was the experience of Asaph. In desperation, he wrote Psalm 77. He cried to God for help, but his soul felt shriveled and lifeless. Asaph’s longing for God to act left him unable to sleep. He questioned God and voiced his mistrust. Such cries of agony are acceptable. Shouting our fears and doubts before God is prayer.

Suddenly, Asaph stops crying “I, I, I,” and says “Your miracles…, Your ways…, You are the God of gods.” Before, he was self-absorbed, focused on his disappointments. But now he focused on the Majestic God.

The Psalm ends with a wonderful statement. “Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen.” When God led his people through the Red Sea, Asaph remembers there was no evidence God was there. There was only deliverance.

There are times when there are no footprints, but even without a trace God leads us. At those times when we see no evidence of God’s existence, the Invisible Shepherd is always there. In the miraculous and in the ordinary, in the roaring and in the silence, in the brilliance and in the darkness the invisible shepherd remains.

A navy diver said something about diving deep I found interesting. When you dive deep enough, it becomes so dark it’s almost impossible to keep from becoming disoriented and confused. It could be terrifying not to know which way is up and unable to see your hand in front of your face. Panic easily sets in. The advice of the navy diver was to “feel the bubbles.” The reason was because bubbles always drift to the surface. “When you can't trust your feelings or judgment,” he said, “you can trust the bubbles to get you back to the top.”

What do we do when we don’t know which way is up? How can we survive periods of darkness and gloom? How should we respond when God seems silent and invisible? Prayer is the stream of bubbles leading us toward the invisible shepherd. In desperation we pray, “Lord, it’s not more money, or a better spouse, or another job I need…I’m desperate for you.”

Keep sending up bubbles. Cry out to the invisible shepherd. Even when he seems gone without a trace, even when there are no footprints in the sand, he is right there with you.