2021-08 Footprints in the Sand

Footprints also known as Footprints in the Sand is one of the most moving poems written about the unmistakable love that Jesus has toward us. Scripture reminds us throughout the Bible that God is always with us giving us a spiritual picture of Him walking with us; however, in the dream of the writer that inspired the poem, she wondered why in the most difficult times of her life there appeared to be only one set of footprints rather than both hers and the Lord’s.

As you read the poem below, think of some of the lowest situations in your own life whether years or months ago, weeks or days ago, or today. Many of us have likely wondered at some point in times of unimaginable grief, heartbreak, disappointment, terrible health issues, or desperate financial situations if God was really with us. Then finally, find comfort in the powerful conclusion of the poem.

If you can relate to times of feeling abandoned by the Lord, you are in the company of countless other believers from Bible times as well as today. We have wondered: where God is — why this happening? — what did I do wrong — am I being punished — why am I walking alone — does He hear me and so on. In those desperate times, we have to trust in the God who cannot lie. Numbers 23:19 tells us: “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” So, if His word tells us that He will not leave us, then He won’t even when we don’t understand or feel it.

Fear is one of the most daunting weapons that Satan uses against us. One writer has said, “The presence of bad times is usually the greatest persuasion of the absence of God. Resist the fear with faith and trust as the poem concluded, that in those times when God seems absent, when we are too weary, too beat down, too broke, in too much pain, or too discouraged to take another step, it is then that He lifts us in His strong arms and carries us.

      (Deuteronomy 1:31) . . . and in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.

      (Matthew 11:28) Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

      (Joshua 1:9) Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.