He Knows the Way That I Take

After a time of really struggling with my quiet time routine, I recently jumped back into one of Beth Moore's studies - A Womans Heart-God's Dwelling Place. This morning the study was focused on Gold, Silver and Precious Stones. In it there was a verse - Job 23:10 that says But He knows the way I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold. I pondered this for a moment, and thought about the "way that I take". Sometimes I take the way of pride, jealousy, selfish ambition. At times, I have my feet on a path I know better than to be going down. If He knows the way I take, I wonder why He doesn't just abandon me here? But He never does. He is always on the right path, calling my name.
As I am writing this I am reminded of something that happened almost two years ago now. It was early March during the first signs of spring, my slightly insane friend Lizbeth and I decided to take our kids hiking - up and over our little peak of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I knew the trail - or so I thought because I had hiked it once in the opposite direction! Long story short, we started off in the morning, stopped and had a picnic lunch with our five children, and continued on through the afternoon. What we hadn't realized is that the direction we headed was predominately uphill. My friend's 4 year old daughter was tiring, and we began to take turns carrying her. We also followed some arrows that appeared to lead out of the trail and back to civilization. Lizbeth hiked ahead as I sat with the children because we were tiring of carrying her little one - and I realized my cell phone battery was almost dead, and it was fast approaching dark in the shadow of the trees, so reluctantly I called my husband, and a couple of friends. One of our friends just so happened to live at the top of the mountain, and we called her to cancel plans that Lizbeth had with her for that evening, because she obviously was NOT going to make it - and unbeknownst to us, she sent her husband out to look for us. (He was a very expereinced hiker, who was very familiar with that section of the Appalachain trail.) As dark closed in, we bundled the children between us and huddled underneath an emergency blanket, and sang songs to the Lord for what seemed like hours. Finally we saw a flashlight in the woods. It was our friend's husband.
That is how God loves us - and even when the way that I take is the wrong way - He doesn't only stand calling my name - He comes to find me - in the dark when I am unable to find my own way home. And even though He always knows where I am, I know if I can lift my voice to praise Him, He hears my need for Him to find me all the more!
......He knows the way that I take....