Hebrews 12:12-13 “Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.”
The pathway of life can be difficult at best. The myriad of evil that surrounds and the opportunities for failure seem numberless.
Can we or do we need to improve our way? Are we relegated to a path that is not of our own choosing?
The Word of God seems to indicate we have been commissioned to improve our way, particularly if it isn’t straight. The author of Hebrews encourages the body of Christ to make their path straight but they must first recognize if it is not.
What does it look like to straighten the path we walk?
Anything worthwhile is found in the Word of God, it is our guide for life.
Striving for Peace
One attribute that can set the tone for the journey is how to walk in peace. The elements of peace both correlate with our relationship to God and toward others.
Hebrews 12:14 “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”
Peace between our fellow man is a harmony of sorts. The image of a chorus of voices, singing in one accord producing a beautiful sound. To be in concordance with one another is to be in agreement. We can choose to harmonize and agree with the other that will change our course from having one as an adversary to having a friend.
It takes humility to agree with someone, to be in perfect agreement is difficult, even for the best of relationships. There is a process of giving and taking, compromise and love that necessitates an accord and the peace that follows is the reward.
Remember the call of John the Baptist as Jesus was preparing to begin His ministry…
Matthew 3:1-3 “In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
make his paths straight.’”
For the path to be made straight, repentance must lead the way.
The call to all who would follow begins with a searching of the heart.
Where does my heart desire to go?
Will I seek my own agenda or is God’s purposes my priority?
The way of the Lord is straight and for all who desire to follow they can know that God will be true.
Psalm 5:8 “Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me.”
Believers must remember that righteousness is the light that leads through the darkness. Walking in obedience first begins with repentance. If the world seems dark and the road hard to see, knowing and abiding in faithfulness will guide the path of the redeemed.
The world does not know God’s way, and is actually quite opposed to such a path.
Proverbs 29:27 “An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous,
but one whose way is straight is an abomination to the wicked.”
Believers cannot measure success on God’s road, from a worldly perspective it doesn’t make sense. The world will try and dissuade God’s people from following after the truth, they will try to lure them into sin and unrighteousness while striving to disrupt their journey. The faithful ones know the road is narrow and straight, and therefore they can keep their eyes on the Light of God’s guidance.
God’s guidance is through His Word.
The Sovereignty of God
With so much in this world going against the faith of God’s people, the skeptic might begin to doubt God’s power over the world. With Covid cleaning house in churches across the land, pastors falling into sexual sin and temptation, and evil rulers rising up at an alarming rate, despair would be a logical response. How can God continue to allow this world to spiral into a level of darkness never before seen?
Psalm 135:6 “Whatever the LORD pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.”
This simple verse has profound implications….
If the Lord is able to do whatever He pleases, then nothing in this world can come against Him. Nothing can change His plans.
Daniel 4:35 “All the peoples of the earth are counted as nothing, and He does as He pleases with the army of heaven and the peoples of the earth. There is no one who can restrain His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’ ”
You may ask, what does God’s sovereignty have to do with the path I am on?
The answer is: everything.
No form of evil can stand against the providence of God, no lack of judgment, no principality or power can come against the plan that God has set and established for you!
If you have placed your life into His hands, you are secure in Him.
Isaiah 46:10 “I declare the end from the beginning, and ancient times from what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’”
Making your way in the Kingdom of God is not left to chance or random luck. Your life is ordered by God and in the end it will be good.
God’s people can have strength return to them knowing that He is in control and His purposes will not be limited.
“There is no attribute more comforting to His children than that of God’s Sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances in the most severe trials, they believe that Sovereignty has ordained their afflictions, that Sovereignty overrules them, and that Sovereignty will sanctify them all.” A. W. Pink
The Heart of God
Psalm 115:3 “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.”
Because God is able to do whatever He pleases to do, we can look into the heart of God and see what pleases Him.
Colossians 1:19-20 “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”
God’s people were once a people alienated from Him, walking in sin and judgement. In Christ, the fullness of God was revealed and it was through the Son of God that His people have been justified by grace.
The heart of God reveals His intent and purpose.
Isaiah 54:16-17 “Behold, I have created the smith
who blows the fire of coals
and produces a weapon for its purpose.
I have also created the ravager to destroy;
no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed,
and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment.
This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD
and their vindication from me, declares the LORD.”
The Lord is Sovereign over all of Creation, there is no element thereof that is free to act contrary to His will. What He purposes, that will He do.
Therefore, since the Lord is God over all, then the path He has set before us cannot be changed. It’s up to us, those called by His name, redeemed by His blood, to follow the path which He has ordained. How do we follow?
We must draw near in holiness, with hearts of love, knowing that He will be faithful in all that He has purposed.
Isaiah 48:17-19 “Thus says the LORD,
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the LORD your God,
who teaches you to profit,
who leads you in the way you should go.
Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments!
Then your peace would have been like a river,
and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;
your offspring would have been like the sand,
and your descendants like its grains;
their name would never be cut off
or destroyed from before me.”
The good news is this….making our way is not left up to us, not if Christ is our Shepherd. Our responsibility is to know how to follow. Staying in the Word, remaining in prayer and being found faithful in obedience is a really good way to start. As we walk in obedience, we will mature in our faith and the Lord will complete the work He has begun.
Forever He has been faithful and faithful He will always be.
U.T. 