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I. THERE ARE EVILS IN OUR WAY, UNSEEN BY US, FROM WHICH IT WILL BE GOD'S 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 God's 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 God's 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, God's 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.)

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KJV: Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.

WEB: Your way was through the sea; your paths through the great waters. Your footsteps were not known.