There is a saying that "God writes straight our crooked paths." It refers to God making our paths straight with every left or right path we take. Isaiah 45:2b says, "I will go before you and make the crooked places straight."
As we enter a new decade and start a new year, may we come before the Lord to ask Him to make crooked places straight. May we resist leaning into our own understanding as Proverbs 3:5,6 states so wisely - "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight." - there is a solitude we must seek, a place where we ask and hear God speak. This place is more than just a room or closet, it encompasses the position of our hearts. Let's yield our thoughts and self-reliance for surrender, trusting God positioned in the attitude - He knows best. May we seek God's truth, and may His Spirit be a light unto our path. Psalm 119:105 reads, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."
After surrender, and seeking, we make our petition known and ask for enduring strength according to Proverbs 4:26, "Mark out a straight path for your feet, stay on the safe path." God is calling us to be renovators - to restore pathways and repair breaches. We find the blueprint for restoration in Isaiah 58:12:
"If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people’s sins, If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. I will always show you where to go. I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places— firm muscles, strong bones. You’ll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry. You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You’ll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again." The Message Bible
May God hear our cry and respond to our seeking, and may He make the crooked places smooth again...for us, and for the generations to come.
"The crooked shall become straight and the rough ways smooth." Luke 3:4b
