God Will Make A Way

Today we celebrate what is known as Palm Sunday. This was the day that Jesus entered into Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey just as foretold by the prophet Zechariah.

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (Zechariah 9:9 NKJV)

Jesus came into Jerusalem that day in humility to show us the way, a way he took, the way of the cross.

Now, this is not something I normally do, but when a song has such power to portray the message of God’s word of His unconditional love, it needs to be brought forth so it can make a difference in everyone’s life.

And so today on Palm Sunday, I’d like to share with you this incredible message of God’s love and the way Jesus took to show us the way, as He Himself said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6 NKJV)

God has made a way, and He will continue to make a way. God will do something new in all of our hearts and lives. This message of God making a way is found throughout the Bible. In fact, it’s an ongoing story even today.

We see God making a way through Noah.

Humanity spurned God’s love and did great evil. They flaunted their freedom in the face of God, which is not so much different than what we see happening in the world today.

Though Noah God made a way for humanity not to get completely wiped off the face of the earth because of their great evil. Noah remained faithful to God by keeping himself separated from the world’s wickedness, which caused God so much grief.

The reason I say this is because God made humanity special. He created humanity in His image and according to His likeness, Genesis 1:27. God did this so that He could have a special relationship with us. You could say that this image and likeness God created us in is relational.

But sin entered the picture back with Adam and Eve, and because of it God removed them from the Garden of Eden and no longer took daily walks with them. And what is really sad is that sin has now become a part of humanity’s DNA, and we no longer have that close and personal relationship with God.

At the time of Noah, sin and wickedness had gotten so bad and so out of control that God’s heart was grieved. Humanity spoiled beyond recognition what God had created as being good and special.

So, God brought down His judgment. He was going to wash away what had become polluted, but not without first making a way for His creation to survive.

God made a way of escape from His judgment through Noah and the Ark God instructed him to build. God made a way through the great flood and delivered humanity.

God also made a way for Abraham and His decedents, the Jews.

Abraham was a Gentile, as was everyone at that time. The difference is that Abraham believed in God, that is, the one true God, not one of the many other gods humanity believed in. God counted this faith to Abraham’s credit calling him righteous, Romans 4:3.

God, therefore, led Abraham out of his country and away from his family and the negative influences of those around him, and into the land of promise for both he and his decedents.

But Abraham blew it. He forgot God’s promises and what God said and found himself in several compromising situations. Fearing for his life, Abraham devised a plan with Sarah, his wife, to refer to her as his sister instead, not once but twice. But in both cases God made a way to protect them from their deception.

God also made a way where there seemed to be no way for Abraham and Sarah to have a child when they were both well past their ability to have children.

Of Abraham, the Apostle Paul said, “Who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, ‘So shall your descendants be.’” (Romans 4:18 NKJV)

Abraham maintained hope when all seemed hopeless, and that’s because He believed. He knew that since God made the promise He was going to keep it. Paul goes on to say that Abraham’s faith never waivered through unbelief, but rather his faith grew strong. Seeing his faith, God made a way and Isaac was born, and the Jewish nation began.

God has always made a way.

To the Israelites who had been in slavery for 400 years, God made a way for them as well. It is what the Jews celebrate as Passover. God made a way for them through ten plagues, the last being the death of the firstborn.

God made a way and delivered them through the blood of a lamb placed upon the doorposts of their homes. But God didn’t stop there, but also made a way through the Red Sea, and through the wilderness bringing them back into the land of promise, the land given to them by the Lord through Abraham.

The Apostle Paul tells us that God did all these things to give us an example. He said it was for our benefit so that we can see God doing the same thing in our lives, but also so that we can see something greater that God desires to do.

“For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” (Romans 15:4 NKJV)

The great deliverance of Passover foreshadows a far greater deliverance, a deliverance from humanity’s bondage to sin and death, Romans 8:2.

God has made a way for us to escape His judgment against sin through faith in Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, John 1;29.

God made a way to set us free by faith applying the blood of Jesus upon the doorposts of our hearts. To seal the deal, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, or the Feast of Firstfruits, as Paul so aptly describes Jesus as being the firstfruits from the dead, 1 Corinthians 15:20.

This is what we will be celebrating next week, or Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Through Jesus resurrection, God has made a way for humanity to be delivered from eternal death and into eternal life.

And so at this juncture I’d like to take a look at the lyrics of Don Moen’s song, “God Will Make A Way,” to see just how God will make a way for all of us in our journey of faith through this life and into the next.

First, we see that God has made a way

When Things Look Hopeless

“He works in ways we cannot see.”

Abraham and Sarah thought there was no way for them to have a child, seeing they were well past their childbearing years, He being about 100 years old, and she around 90 years old. Yet, they believed in the promise of God over their present circumstance, or as the Bible says, “Who against all hope, in hope believed.” (Romans 4:18a)

This is actually the classic definition of faith.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1 NKJV)

God will always make a way. God will always deliver. But most of the time in ways that we cannot fully understand or even imagine, in ways we cannot see.

Consider the widow who came to the prophet Elisha. Her husband, who had given his life over in service to the prophet, died leaving her in debt up to her eyeballs. The creditors were coming the next day to take her two sons to satisfy the debt.

Maybe she thought that Elisha could intercede with them, but instead of what we normally would think, God worked in a way unforeseen.

Elisha asked what she had left in the house, and she said a jar of oil. He then told her to find all the empty jars they could from their friends and neighbors and fill them all with the one jar of oil they had.

He asked them to believe in a miracle, and they had to faith to believe. They did exactly what he asked, and after the last empty jar was filled, the supply of oil ran out, and they sold what they had been given to pay off the creditor, and they even had enough left over for them to live off the proceeds.

God will make a way, even when things seem hopeless. We may not see it, but God is at work, and all He wants is for us to have a little faith and believe in Him. And when we do He’ll make a way where there seems to be no way.

Next, God will make a way as He …

Guides Us Through Life

“He will be my guide.”

The first way God guides us is through …

The Word

One day a pastor’s car broke down on a country road. He walked to the nearest roadhouse to call for a tow truck. While there he spotted Frank, an old friend who was drunk and shabbily dressed.

“What happened to you,” asked the pastor. “You used to be rich.”

Frank told him a sad tale of a series of bad investments leading to his downfall. The pastor told him to go home, open the Bible, and at random stick his finger on a page. There will be God’s answer for him.

A couple of months later the pastor ran into Frank who was now wearing a Gucci suit, sporting a Rolex watch, and just stepping out of a Mercedes.

The preacher congratulated Frank and Frank said, “I owe it all to you. I opened my Bible, put my finger on the page and there was the answer – Chapter 11.”

Now, I hope you all know that this is just a story, so please don’t use this type of Bible reading technique to find God’s answers for life, because you may stick your finger on, “And Judas went out and hanged himself.” (Matthew 27:5)

The Psalmist declares, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105 NKJV)

The wording in this Psalm indicates the Psalmist was in a dark place. As a result he asked God to revive him according to His word, Psalm 119:107.

This is why I continue to encourage everyone, including myself, to read God’s word daily and write down what God’s revealing, because it is His light to help us find our way through this sin darkened world.

The second way God guides us is through …

The Holy Spirit

The second part of this song’s verse says, “Hold me closely to His side.”

What a beautiful description of the Holy Spirit. In speaking of Holy Spirit’s coming, Jesus said,

“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth.” (John 16:13a NKJV)

In this verse, Jesus described the Holy Spirit as the “Helper.” The Greek word means one who comes along side.

This is what the Holy Spirit does. The Holy Spirit comes along side and helps us in our journey of faith. He guides us through the rough patches, around the potholes, and away from the wide road that leads to destruction and onto the narrow road that leads to everlasting life.

Finally, God will make a way for us by …

Giving His Love and Strength

“With love and strength for each new day, He will make a way.”

The Apostle Paul suffered greatly for his faith. He was severely beaten within an inch of his life twice, stoned and left for dead, unfairly imprisoned on several occasions, shipwrecked, and suffered with an undisclosed illness. As he was suffering with his illness, he cried out for God to heal him, and the Lord replied,

“My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9a NKJV)

It was such encouragement that led Paul to say,

“Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:9b-10 NKJV)

No matter what we go through in life, the one thing we can count on is God’s love and strength to see us through each and every day until we get to the other side. This may be through a healing, or it may be by being giving us the strength to bear up underneath life’s circumstances, where in our own strength, we wouldn’t be able to.

Conclusion

The Bible says that God is the same today as He was in all these stories we looked at.

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8 NKJV)

God doesn’t change, and just as He has made a way in the past, and just as He has made a way for our future, so He will make a way for us today.

Or as the lyrics describe,

By a roadway in the wilderness, He’ll lead me
And rivers in the desert will I see
Heaven and Earth will fade but His Word will still remain
He will do something new today.

God has not only made a way for our eternity in Heaven through Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, but He can make a new way for each of us today. All we need is a little faith to believe, and God will meet us at our disbelief, or as the father of the boy born blind said to Jesus,

“Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24 NKJV)