The God Who Makes a Way: Psalm 77:16-20
Introduction: When God Shows Up
We live in an age that has domesticated God. For modern man, if God exists at all, He is a manageable deity, a celestial butler who can be summoned to help with our personal crises and then politely dismissed when we want to get on with our lives. He is certainly not the kind of God who shows up and makes the planet tremble. He is not the kind of God who makes the sea itself recoil in anguish. Our God is a tame God, a God who would never frighten anyone. But the God of the Bible is not a tame lion. He is the Lord God Almighty, and when He reveals Himself in power, the created order does not just take notice; it comes completely unglued.
The first part of Psalm 77 is a raw, honest lament. The psalmist, Asaph, is in the depths of despair. He is wrestling with the apparent silence and inaction of God. Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has His mercy ceased forever? These are the questions that haunt every believer in the dark night of the soul. But then, in the middle of his anguish, Asaph pivots. He stops looking inward at his own troubles and starts looking backward at God's mighty acts in history. He resolves to remember the deeds of the Lord. And when he does, his perspective is entirely transformed. He remembers who God is.
Our text today is the culmination of that remembrance. It is a poetic, high-octane description of God's deliverance of Israel at the Red Sea. This is not a dispassionate historical record. This is worship. This is Asaph recounting the Exodus event as a full-blown theophany, a manifestation of the raw, untamable power of God. The psalmist wants us to see that the God who seems distant in our personal trials is the same God who made the waters of the deep see Him and writhe in terror. This passage is a potent antidote to our small thoughts about God. It reminds us that our God is a God who makes a way where there is no way, who leads His people through impossible situations, and who does so with such majesty that the earth itself cannot help but respond.
The Text
The waters saw You, O God; The waters saw You, they were in anguish; The deeps also trembled. The clouds poured out water; The skies gave forth a sound; Your arrows went here and there. The sound of Your thunder was in the whirlwind; The lightnings lit up the world; The earth trembled and shook. Your way was in the sea And Your paths in the mighty waters, But Your footprints were not known. You led Your people like a flock By the hand of Moses and Aaron.
(Psalm 77:16-20 LSB)
Creation's Convulsions (vv. 16-18)
We begin with the reaction of the created order to the presence of its Creator.
"The waters saw You, O God; The waters saw You, they were in anguish; The deeps also trembled." (Psalm 77:16)
The psalmist personifies the Red Sea. This is high poetry, but it is communicating a profound theological truth. The waters "saw" God. Inanimate creation possesses a kind of awareness of its Maker that we, in our sin, have lost. When God shows up, creation recognizes Him. And what is its reaction? Not placid acceptance, but anguish and trembling. The word for "in anguish" is a word that can describe the pains of childbirth. The sea writhed. The very depths convulsed. This is not the language of gentle persuasion. This is the language of a sovereign king whose presence is so overwhelming that the most powerful forces of nature are terrified.
This is a direct polemic against the pagan gods of the ancient world. For the Egyptians, the sea and the storm were deities to be placated. But here, the sea is not a rival god; it is a creature, and a terrified one at that. It does not negotiate with God; it obeys Him, however unwillingly. This is the consistent testimony of Scripture. God is mightier than the noise of many waters (Ps. 93:4). When Jesus stood up in the boat on the Sea of Galilee and rebuked the wind and the waves, He was demonstrating that He was the God whom the waters see and obey.
The cosmic upheaval continues in the next verses:
"The clouds poured out water; The skies gave forth a sound; Your arrows went here and there. The sound of Your thunder was in the whirlwind; The lightnings lit up the world; The earth trembled and shook." (Psalm 77:17-18)
Asaph is layering the description of a massive thunderstorm onto the event of the Red Sea crossing. The original Exodus account in chapter 14 doesn't mention a storm, but the psalmist, under the inspiration of the Spirit, is giving us the full theological picture. God's deliverance was not a quiet, neat affair. It was a declaration of war against Pharaoh, against the gods of Egypt, and against the forces of chaos. The clouds, the skies, the thunder, the lightning, the earth itself, all are marshaled as God's weaponry. His arrows are the lightning bolts. His voice is the thunder in the whirlwind. His presence makes the whole world shake.
This is the character of our God. He is not embarrassed by His power. He does not hide His sovereignty. When He acts to save His people, He does so in a way that leaves no doubt as to who is in charge. The world is His stage, and He is not afraid to move the props around. This should be a profound comfort to the people of God. The God who is for us is the God who makes the mountains tremble and the seas flee.
The Hidden Path (v. 19)
After this display of raw, cosmic power, the psalmist reveals a stunning paradox.
"Your way was in the sea And Your paths in the mighty waters, But Your footprints were not known." (Psalm 77:19)
In the midst of this cataclysmic event, God made a "way" for His people. He forged a path where no path existed. This is the business God is in. He makes roads in the sea and rivers in the desert (Is. 43:16, 19). The salvation of God is always a creative act, a miracle that defies the natural order of things. He does not simply help us navigate the existing paths; He creates new ones right through the middle of our impossibilities.
But notice the second half of the verse. "But Your footprints were not known." This is a staggering statement. God was present. God was acting. His power was undeniable. The results of His actions were plain for all to see, a divided sea and a saved people. And yet, He Himself remained invisible. No one saw the divine feet that trod that path through the deep. His ways are not our ways. He works in ways that are mysterious and hidden from our sight.
This is the doctrine of God's providence. God is always at work, but His hand is often hidden. We see the effects, but we do not see the cause. We see the deliverance, but we do not see the Deliverer's footprints. This is a call to faith. We are called to trust the God whose presence is powerful enough to shake the earth, even when His methods are inscrutable to us. We walk by faith, not by sight. We trust the character of the God we know, even when we cannot trace the path He is taking. This was true for Israel at the Red Sea, and it is true for us in our trials. God is making a way, even when we cannot see His footprints.
The Mediated Shepherd (v. 20)
The psalm concludes by bringing this majestic, cosmic display of power down to a very personal and pastoral level.
"You led Your people like a flock By the hand of Moses and Aaron." (Psalm 77:20)
How did this terrifying, sea-splitting, earth-shaking God lead His people? He led them like a shepherd leads his sheep. This is an image of tender, personal, intimate care. The same God whose voice is the thunder leads His people gently. The same God whose arrows are the lightning guides His flock with care. He is both transcendent and immanent. He is both majestic King and gentle Shepherd.
And how did He exercise this pastoral care? "By the hand of Moses and Aaron." God did not lead them directly, as a disembodied voice from heaven. He used human instruments. He delegated His authority to the leaders He had appointed. Moses, the lawgiver and prophet. Aaron, the high priest. This establishes a crucial principle for the people of God in every age. God governs His church through the means He has established. He works through delegated authority, through pastors and elders, through the preaching of the Word and the administration of the sacraments.
This is a rebuke to all forms of hyper-spiritual individualism that wants a relationship with God without the messiness of the church and its appointed leadership. God's normal way of shepherding His flock is through the hands of the undershepherds He has called. To despise the leadership God has put in place is to despise the God who sent them. Moses and Aaron were flawed men, as the subsequent history of Israel makes abundantly clear. But they were God's men, and it was through their hand that the Shepherd of Israel led His flock to safety.
The Way of the Cross
As with all the mighty acts of God in the Old Testament, this event is a shadow, a type, that points forward to the ultimate deliverance accomplished in Jesus Christ. The Red Sea crossing is the ultimate Exodus, but it is not the final one. The New Testament speaks of the "exodus" that Jesus would accomplish at Jerusalem (Luke 9:31).
In Christ, we see all the themes of this psalm brought to their fulfillment. At the cross, we see another theophany. The skies grew dark, the earth trembled and shook, and the rocks were split (Matt. 27:45, 51). The created order once again convulsed at the presence of God dealing with sin.
At the cross, God once again made a way where there was no way. He forged a path through the mighty waters of death and judgment. He opened up a way into the Holy of Holies, a way for sinners to be reconciled to a holy God. And again, His footprints were not known. The way of the cross is foolishness to the world. The wisdom of God in salvation is hidden, a mystery revealed only to those who have faith (1 Cor. 1:18).
And how does God lead us now? He leads us, His flock, by the hand of the great Shepherd of the sheep, the Lord Jesus (Heb. 13:20). He is our Moses, the greater prophet who leads us out of the bondage of sin. He is our Aaron, the great High Priest who has offered the perfect sacrifice for our sins. He is the one who has gone before us, through the waters of death, and has brought us out safely on the other side.
Therefore, when you find yourself in the depths of despair, like Asaph at the beginning of this psalm, do what he did. Remember the works of the Lord. Remember the Red Sea. But above all, remember the cross. Remember the God who makes the waters writhe and the earth tremble. Remember the God who makes a way through the sea of judgment. And remember the Shepherd who leads you by the hand, whose footprints you may not always see, but whose destination is secure.