We’ve Come This Far by Faith

When I read Isaiah 43, I think about the people who were held in bondage below the Mason-Dixon Line at one point in this nation’s history. After their release from captivity, they were reluctant to leave behind what had become so familiar and seemingly safe. But they knew it was time to go when the floods of Jim Crow rose to their necks. As they gathered courage for the journey into the unknown, I imagine they recalled wisdom from the Bible:

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. (Isaiah 43:2)

They probably remembered the stories of healing. Stories of hope. Stories of mercy. Stories of grace. Stories of deliverance. They remembered stories that said if they held onto their faith, the God of their salvation would make them Fearless and Fireproof. So they set out, walking by faith and not by sight.

Millions didn’t make it, but those who did were among the pilgrims who picked up everything they owned and moved to the North, along with more than 6 million other formerly enslaved families during the Great Migration. They traveled from Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, and other places in the “Babylon below the Mason-Dixon Line.” They came by bus, train, and car, and on foot to flee lynching, unsatisfactory economic conditions, unemployment, and harsh Jim Crow laws that had become routine in their lives. 

And there were both figurative and literal rivers for them to cross. When they reached Cairo, Illinois, on the City of New Orleans railroad line, for example, they had to switch from the Jim Crow car to an integrated car before crossing the river, because Jim Crow was not legal in the North, the place they considered the promised land. But that’s a whole different sermon! 

In spite of everything they encountered, they held on to their faith and waited on the Maker of Time to open a window in time, revealing a pathway to their freedom. And they’re still making the journey, putting one foot in front of the other against all odds, with the understanding that one day they will reach their destination.