The weather is better, but huge snow banks still obstruct the way.
Isaiah 57:14 (ESV)
. . . prepare the way,
remove every obstruction from my people’s way.
I think of it this way: When I pray alone, I’m preparing the way with a shovel. When I pray with one other person, we work like a snow blower. And when all God’s people pray in unity, we are tandem show plows, powerfully clearing a wide swath.
In prayer, let us prepare the way.
A shovel is my tool of choice to clear the path. I know how to use the snowblower, but I’d rather let someone else do it. Me, drive a snowplow? No way.
Some people pray the way I move snow. Most of their praying is a one-man (one-woman) conversation with God. On rare occasions they pray out loud with someone else. Leading an entire congregation in prayer? Not gonna happen.
We have the opportunity to prepare the way . . . for God! What an honor. Hold back nothing. Let us pray!
Isaiah 40:3 (CEV)
Someone is shouting:
“Clear a path in the desert!
Make a straight road for the Lord our God.
Fill in the valleys; flatten every hill and mountain.
Level the rough and rugged ground.
Then the glory of the Lord will appear for all to see.
The Lord has promised this!”
I don’t live in a desert. But temperature aside, our snow-swept landscape resembles the desert. Let’s level the path, find the pavement.
We obey the call to prepare the way when we repeat the Lord’s Prayer, Thy kingdom come.
Let us pray!
18 inches. That much snow fell on my sidewalk and driveway last week. How do you handle snow that blocks your way?
The blocked paths and roadways brought this well-known Scripture to mind:
Isaiah 40:3 (ESV)
In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Prepare the way!
I am thankful for a husband who keeps his pledge–faithful to me, faithful to God.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
I try to have a conversation with God about my marriage. I’m annoyed with my husband, and I want to tell God how righteous I am and how unreasonable my husband is.
Instead, God reveals to me my failure to honor Him: money spent on worthless indulgences, time wasted in pointless internet clicks, foolish imaginations set off by degenerate shows and stories. It’s not about the activity itself, it’s about the damage to our relationship.
I’ve been cheating on God. I’m “having an affair” with the world.
Hosea 2:19-20
I will betroth you to me forever;
I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,
in love and compassion.
I will betroth you in faithfulness,
and you will acknowledge the Lord.
Troth, a word closely related to truth, is a pledge of faithfulness. God pledges his troth to us. Dare we pledge anything less back to God?
Here’s Ann Landers’ take on our topic:
“Sensual pleasures have the fleeting brilliance of a comet; a happy marriage has the tranquility of a lovely sunset.”
I’ll take the proximity and predictability of tranquil sunsets over the fleeting excitement of a distant comet. How about you?
Those traditional wedding vows, I pledge thee my troth and till death do us part, sound old-fashioned. Is monogamy passé?
Lots of hurt comes from broken vows. Some folks insist that their plethora of partners is exciting, but I wouldn’t trade places with them.
Many fathers of our faith were not monogamous: think Abraham, Jacob, David and Solomon. Is it a stretch to think that their multiple mates doubled their aggravation, not their fun?
A noble goal from a founding father:
“Above all things I hope the education of the common people will be attended to; convinced that on their good sense we may rely with the most security for the preservation of a due degree of liberty.”
Thomas Jefferson, 1787
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.
