Walking straight paths... (Ballygrainey Newsletter article - November 2016)

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.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Not for the first time these verses have been brought to my attention recently. They are going to be used at a wedding in Ballygrainey in November. As I have been reflecting on what to say at this wedding I have been struck by the fact that all too often in life our paths don’t seem very straight at all. In fact for most of us the experience of life is full of unexpected twists and turns. Instead of smooth straight journeys in life we experience far too many rough paths, steep climbs, sharp turns and potholes.

People of faith are no different to anyone else in this respect. We trust God. We believe that he is on the throne and in ultimate control of the universe. And yet we still experience far rougher, more difficult roads than the writer of Proverbs suggests. We can be going along the road quite happily when an unexpected diagnosis of cancer forces a sharp and unexpected left turn. We can be steadily making progress in our faith and suddenly fall victim to temptation that causes us to fall. We can make plans for the future that include another person and suddenly that other person lets us down and we feel like we are walking alone. We can be finding fulfilment in a job that is suddenly taken away from us.

Very few characters in the Bible had lives that we might call straight paths. Abraham who left his home and family aged 75 with no idea where he was going. Jacob who deceived and twisted his way through life. Joseph who was sold into slavery and left in a prison to rot. Moses the murderer of an Egyptian and reluctant leader of Israel. And then there is Ruth, Samuel, David, Esther and many more. All of them trusted God. None of them had a plan that worked out smoothly without a few unexpected twists and turns along the way. So how can the writer of Proverbs say that when we trust in God and submit to him, he will make our paths straight?

Perhaps the best way to understand this is to look at the life of Jesus. From an earthly perspective, you would never describe his 33 years on this earth as a straight path. Born in a Bethlehem manger, spending the first years of his life as a refugee in Egypt, taking on the family business only to up and leave aged 30 to go on a preaching and healing tour of Galilee. Quickly growing in popularity, only to see the crowds fade away when things got difficult. Training 12 men only to see them run for their lives when he needed them most. Being falsely arrested, convicted and crucified within a few short hours one Friday morning. That doesn’t sound like a straight path.

But from the perspective of eternity all those twists and turns were leading inevitably, unstoppably to that cross and empty tomb. In fact from the perspective of eternity all those twisty, turny, up and down Old Testament lives were leading that way too.

The history of the church since Jesus' ascension is hard to see as a straight path either. All those persecutions and flirtations with heresy. All those crusades and witch trials and acts of sectarian violence. All those encounters with totalitarian regimes that sought to stamp out any kind of faith that took first place away from the state or its glorious leaders. All those compromises with the culture of the day which have left the church apparently weak and ineffective.

And yet from the perspective of eternity there is a wedding feast being prepared at which the Church of Jesus Christ will be honoured as his beautiful, perfect bride. and every road and path in history is making its way inexorably towards that day.

God takes every rough and twisted path and makes it into a smooth straight road for his purpose to be fulfilled. He doesn't just do it with the grand sweep of history. He does it with your life and mine as well.

So the next time the road seems bumpy or an unexpectedly sharp change in direction comes your way, remember that the One who is making all things new is also making all your paths straight. Trust Him and lean not on your own understanding.