Proverbs 3:5-6. 5Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
The result of trusting God and knowing him in all we do is that we will have a straight path, or we might say a clearly marked path. This is the promise of God’s guidance but also much more, his providence.
In ancient days, when a king was coming for a visit they would make straight the path. A crew would go before the king’s entourage and make sure that there was a clear and visible passage way for the king. Holes were filled in. Large stones were removed. Anything that would get in the way of his arrival was eliminated. The prophet Isaiah referenced this process in his Messianic vision when he said, “in the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” Through the course of human history and the unfolding of divine providence, God prepared the way for Christ to come. His path was made straight, a path that would lead him down the road of suffering straight to the cross.
My wife and I spent three weeks in the beautiful Lakes District of northern England this past Summer. While there, we decided to do some hiking on the trails around the lakes and up the mountains. On our first two hikes, we found our way around the trails easily using the directions and maps on the website. But on our third attempted hike, we simply could not find our way. We started, retreated, and re-started unable to interpret the directions or even find our starting point. Just when we were about to give up and head back to the bus stop, along came a lovely British family that allowed us to follow them for the next four hours as we hiked up Castle Crag together. They made our path straight. Clear. Not easy. But clear. The hike up the mountain was still hard. Long. Steep. Slippery. Four out of five of us fell down at some point on the hike. But we made it to the top and we made some new friends along the way.
Trusting God can be a lot like us trusting that nice family in England. There is a path, even though sometimes it’s hard to see. There is a destination, even though sometimes we are too discouraged to keep going. And there is a guide. That family that we followed had just hiked up Castle Crag the day before. They knew the way because they had already done the hike (and they knew how to read the map).
When we trust Christ we are trusting that he knows the way. He can read the map and he has already hiked the trail. But we are also trusting that he is the way. He is the trail. God not only made straight the path for Christ, he made Christ our straight path. Jesus is no self-help guru. He didn’t come to show us how to make our own path straight, how to live a good life, how to find happiness and bliss in the here and now. He came to travel the path of human suffering, to clear the path from human sin, and to be the path for human faith in God.
Union with Christ has made our path to God free from all obstacles. Trusting in your co-crucifixion and co-resurrection with Christ is what guides you to the end. Sharing his journey up the hill to Calvary. Carrying his cross. Knowing that he has blazed the trail for us and knowing that it leads to the mountain top of his presence. And knowing that nothing, NOTHING, will get in his way of him bringing you all the way home.
You: In what ways are you blazing your own trail through life apart from Christ’s path?
You in Christ: What is the difference between Jesus showing us the straight path and Jesus BEING the straight path?
Christ in you: Where do you need the guidance of Christ today? The guidance of the cross?
Pray: Father, the path to you is not my own, it is your son, Jesus. Keep me on the path of faith in Christ today. Amen.
To Live is Christ 