'I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them
in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before
them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them,
and not forsake them.'--ISAIAH xiii. 16.
The grand stormy verses before these words, with all their dread array
of natural convulsions, have one object--the tender guidance promised
in the text. So we have the combination of terror and love, the
blending in the divine government of terrible judgments and most gentle
guidance. The words apply, of course, primarily to the redemption of
Israel; but through them shines a picture of the greater redemption of
humanity.
1. The blind travellers. They are blind, and their road is unknown to
them. It is a symbol of our condition and of our paths in life. Our
limited foresight cannot discern certainly even the next moment. It is
always the unexpected that happens. We cannot tell what lies behind the
next bend in the road, and there are so many bends; and behind one of
them, we cannot tell whether it may be the next, sits 'the Shadow
feared of man.' Life is like the course of the Congo, which makes so
mighty a bend northward that, till it had been followed from source to
mouth, no one could have supposed that it was to enter the ocean far
away to the west. Not only God's mercies, but our paths, are 'new every
morning.' Experience, like conscience, sheds light mainly on what lies
behind, and scarcely 'doth attain to something of prophetic strain.'
2. The Leader. How tenderly God makes Himself the leader of the blind
pilgrims! It does not matter about being blind, if we put our hands in
His. Then He will 'be to us instead of eyes.' Jesus took the blind man
by the hand.
So here is the promise of guidance by Providence, Word, Spirit. And
here is the condition of receiving it, namely, our conscious blindness
and realisation of the complexities of life, leading to putting
ourselves into His hands in docile faith.
3. The gradual light. Darkness is made light. We receive the knowledge
of each step, when it needs to be taken; the light shines only on the
next; we are like men in a fog, who are able only to see a yard ahead.
4. The clearing away of hindrances. 'Crooked things straight.' A
careful guide lifts stones out of a blind man's way. How far is this
true? There will be plenty of crooked things left crooked, but still so
many straightened as to make our road passable.
5. The perpetual Presence. If God is with me, then all these blessings
will surely be mine. He will be with me if I keep myself with Him. It
is His felt presence that gives me light on the road, and levels and
straightens out the crookedest and roughest path.