Straight Ways

Ecclesiastes 1:15 - What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be numbered.

God is all powerful. It is only by His hand that all things exist and do what they are intended to do. Only God can make paths straight. It is through Him we walk straight, in align with what we know He requires. His ways are right and true and just. Through Him we see things more clearly. 

I looked up scriptures regarding straight paths/ways because I know there are several references. It boils down to knowing the Lord, trusting in Him above all else and FOLLOWING Him. He knows the way we should go because only He IS the way, truth and life. It takes a leap of faith to get to that place of trusting Him over all other “avenues.”

I’ll let the Word of God speak for itself!! Remember God’s way/path is good and it is straight providing we don’t look or turn to the left or the right. (Proverbs 4:25-26)

Lead me, O Lord, in Your righteousness because of my enemies; make Your way straight before my face.

Psalm 5:8 

They [anyone who chooses God] shall come with weeping, and with supplications I will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they shall not stumble…

Jeremiah 31:9a

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and 

He shall DIRECT your paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6 

The way of the just is uprightness; O Most Upright, You weigh [direct] the path of the just.

Isaiah 26:7 

You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Psalm 16:11 

I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. These things I will do for them, and not forsake them.

Isaiah 42:16 

Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be ESTABLISHED [by God].

Proverbs 4:26

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

John 8:12 

Another thought. It’s difficult to see in the dark. The Bible tells us we are all in darkness before we know Jesus. Our ways are crooked. When we come to Christ the light has shown in our lives…and paths become straight (and narrower).

It’s hard to separate the idea of darkness and crooked paths. We stumble through life without Christ. Then He suggests the path to Christ is narrow (strait). And we know what the straight and narrow means. I find the word strait an interesting word for the verse below! And narrow here means to crowd (literally or figuratively), afflict, throng, or trouble. 

Matthew 7:13-14 - Enter ye in at the strait [narrow] gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Finding True Wisdom

 “But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man does not know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living. It cannot be purchased for gold, nor can silver be weighed for its price. 

From where then does wisdom come? And where is the place of understanding? God understands its way, and He knows its place. For He looks to the ends of the earth, and sees under the whole heavens, to establish a weight for the wind, and apportion the waters by measure. 

When He made a law for the rain, and a path for the thunderbolt, then He saw wisdom and declared it; He prepared it, indeed, He searched it out. 

And to man He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding.’”

‭‭(Job‬ ‭28:12-13,15,20,23-28‬)

We have seen a lot happen in the past 1 1/2 years with Covid-19. I don’t plan on getting political here.

Job asked a good question and pondered some points that maybe we also should be. While in this world we won’t always have the answers, we can know One who has them because He has created all things and allows all things to point us to Him. And that’s they key, looking to God for the answers, to gain wisdom that does not come from mere man.

Before I begin I want to share a testimony of God’s amazing goodness. 

I have not posted a blog since March of this year. Before then just minimal posts for about a year. Not sure why, but I thought it was just time to stop. 

Well, perhaps I was wrong. God had other plans. And He worked in exactly the way He knows how for me. The thought came last week to starting the blog up again. Not sure where the thought came from, I put it out of my mind, maybe thinking the Lord would let me know for sure if this was from Him or my imagination. Crickets for about a week.

Then I get a phone call this morning from a friend of ours. My phone was off so I didn’t receive it immediately. Listening to the message he left I was surprised to hear that Tom, you know who you are, wondered if he had missed some blogs. Seems on checking, his gmail account was lost through a technical glitch. He asked if he could add him to my list to receive again. 

Only God could do this! Not only did He reveal an issue for Tom but answered my question. I love how He works. So, hopefully a short blog for starters. (Hah!)

So, we might have been fearful and/or angry this past year regarding issues related to COVID. Again, I will not focus on that. I can tell you that during this time I have begun to trust more in the Lord, which draws one closer also. I listened to several credible online church pastors who all said the same thing: God is in control. Well, shouldn’t this have been something we’d known all along??

He IS in control as He has been and always will be. 

Because He is God. 

He has all the answers and He knows just what it takes to get as many as possible to look to Him, not government or man, to get us through all this. As one ministry leader says repeatedly, Things aren’t falling apart, they are falling into place.

Keep this thought in mind…the Bible says He was, He is and He is to come. This references Jesus. He was, as we know from Old Testament scripture prophesied. He is, as also prophesied and which account was seen by hundreds of witnesses. He’s alive today in the lives of His followers. And He is to come. He will return, as the Bible says, at a day or hour which no man knows. He will come as a thief in the night. And we must be ready today. 

But where can wisdom be found? Where is the place of understanding?  That place is in the Word of God. Divinely inspired, written, as it were, through the power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of about 40 men. Documentation of things, that we might know, that we might not be unaware. Not some newspaper or news media source, no matter how good, but what God’s views are. In order that we be aware, we must enter into that Word. 

Just keep in mind the thought that God is in complete control, He always has been, always is and always will be…Things aren’t falling apart, they’re falling in place. I’m sure there will be more to follow! And…

Revelation‬ ‭1:8‬ ‭- “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”‭‭