“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”                               Proverbs 3:5 and 6

We are probably all familiar with this promise from God and I expect we have all claimed it more than once in our lives. It’s easy to understand what it means to not trust in our own, or in any human understanding or wisdom, but to instead seek and trust in God’s wisdom and leading; but what does a straight path really look like? I had an experience the other night that illustrated it for me.

I live about four miles from the church and on my way home there are 13 traffic lights. Needless to say, if I hit one or two lights at the wrong time it can be a long, slow trip home. While stuck at a light I have often fantasized about how cool it would be to have a traffic signal controlling strobe light on my car just like the ones on fire engines and on a recent trip I got to find out just how cool it would be.

While driving home, about two blocks into my drive a fire engine pulled in front of me with lights and sirens going. After it passed me I tucked in behind it at a safe distance and had green light all the way home. Thanks to the light controlling strobe, my path was cleared of all obstructions, it was like God parting the Red Sea and made for the best drive home ever.

That experience got me to thinking about how it is when God is leading in our lives, when we are following and He is making our paths straight. When we seek His will and His way, He opens the doors, turns the lights green, and removes obstacles from our path so that we are able to go the way that God has planned for us.

And the opposite is often true. When we are moving against God’s will, pressing to get our own way or to do things in our own time, we can encounter road blocks and difficulties that God intends to stop us so that we will turn back to Him and seek His will, in His time and in His way.

Of course, not every road block or difficulty means we are on the wrong path, James 1:2 and 3 tell us that God will use our difficulties to produce perseverance in us. However, when we seek God’s will, seek His way, seek His timing, and follow as He leads, He will allow us to know His will and will open the door and clear the path that He has set for us.

It’s my hope and prayer that the promise of Proverbs 3:5 and 6 would become the norm for each of our lives and for our church family as we seek and follow Jesus.

God’s Grace and Peace,

Mark