The Straight Path

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 3:5,6

Nowhere does the text imply that straight is synonymous with easy or expeditious. Curvy roads are curvy because they avoid the more challenging, more costly, more demanding route. It is no mystery why you don't encounter straight paths very often. Straight doesn't go around. Straight goes up, down, through, and over. Curves accommodate. Straight considers the ungraciousness that lies ahead and charts a gracious course that is the most direct route to the other side. Straight considers the destination and resources in inventory rather than the slop and stench of the ungracious course ahead. The straight path showcases the grandeur of grace against the backdrop of ungracious places.

When I consider the straight path, as opposed to the curvy path, I think of keeping my eyes focused on Jesus, “the author and perfecter of faith.” Hebrews 12:2 describes the nature of the course and Jesus' decision to the choose the course he did instead of the other options available to him: “who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

God took the straight course to reach us. He didn't go around pain and suffering. In going to the cross, He traveled straight through the heart of it. Have you noticed that the straight path is sometimes the harder course and that what is best for you is often what appears to be the most ungracious?