There must be mystery in religion a religion which lies between the finite and the Infinite. Take away mystery, and we should tear out a page of evidence. But there is more hiddenness about the providence of God than there is about the grace of God. He has revealed much more clearly what He does and what He wills about our souls than about our bodies. This is the reason, perhaps, why faith finds it so much harder work to trust for time than it does for eternity, and why there are so many who have no fear for their salvation, and yet who are hourly anxious about their daily wants.
I. The distinction between the degree of the mystery of providence and grace underlies the text. There is a climax and an anticlimax. (1) Observe "way," "path," "footsteps." The way is greater than the path; the way is broad: the path is necessarily narrow, as in the familiar verse, "In all thy ways" i.e.,in all thy great things "acknowledge Him, and He will direct thy little things," thy "paths;" while "footsteps" are smaller still than paths little isolated marks lying here and there along the path. So it runs down way, path, footsteps. (2) Now see the ascending scale. "Thy way is in the sea" the sea classically is always shallow water "Thy path in the great waters," which lie far out, more unfathomable than the shallows of the shore; while the "footsteps" are altogether out of sight, something beyond the sea and beyond the great waters, utterly out of reach: they "are not known."
II. As respects God's hidden ways, there are one or two things which we ought to consider. (1) God never meant you to understand them. We are to seek the solution of hard problems, and the quelling of our fears, and the answer to our doubts, not in the events themselves, but in the character of God, not in the book of present history, but in the volume of the Scriptures. (2) Faith has its helps. As we live on, many things which were once fearful, involved, and hard come out kind, simple, and plain; we see, if not all, yet some, of the reasons: and we are satisfied where we were once most dissatisfied. The past stands sponsor for the future.
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons,7th series, p. 124.
In the history of Israel we find not merely an impressive symbol, but a great practical truth, the truth, namely, that those who follow God follow a Leader whose footsteps are not known; that, in other words, he who accepts the service of God accepts with it much which he cannot understand. Mystery is bound up with God's revelation and dealing with the human race.
I. We are not to conclude that because there is a mystery in God's dealings they are therefore without a plan. We are to remember that the confusion is in us, and not in God's work; that God's counsel is not darkened because we are blind.
II. We are not to conclude that this mystery of providence is the outgrowth of unkindness.
III. The Psalmist has evidently reached very satisfactory conclusions on this subject. The secret of his confidence is revealed in the thirteenth verse, in the words, "Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary," or "Thy way is in holiness." No matter how strange the way if it be a way of holiness!
IV. "Thou leddest Thy people." The true philosophy of life is summed up here, in simply following God.
M. R. Vincent, Gates into the Psalm Country,p. 181.
References: Psalms 77:19. Homiletic Magazine,vol. x., p. 132.Psalms 77:19; Psalms 77:20. A. P. Stanley, Sermons on Special Occasions,p. 340; C. J. Vaughan, Memorials of Harrow Sundays,p. 116. Psalms 78:3; Psalms 78:4. J. T. Stannard, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xviii.,p. 136. Psalms 78:5-7. H. M. Butler, Harrow Sermons,2nd series, p. 238. Psalms 78:9. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xii., No. 696; S. Baring-Gould, Village Preaching for a Year,1st series, p. 9. Psalms 78:10. J. N. Norton, Every Sunday,p. 305; J. Baines, Sermons,p. 113.