But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife's knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet. And Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Many Christians today adopt the autonomous epistemology1of Eccl. How does God make the crooked places straight? you can say to this mountain throw yourself into the sea and it will be done (Matthew 21: 21 NIV). And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Verse 21 speaks of God knowing Egypt, and the Egyptians knowing the Lord, Whom they perform sacrifice and oblation to, vowing vows to Him and performing them. For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. Hallelujah! The straight place is a heart of forthrightness, humility, goodness, and honesty. You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword andhave taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. (2 Sam. God Bel bows down; Nebo stoops; their idols are on beasts and livestock; these things you carry are borne as burdens on weary beasts. Why have you despised the word of theLord,to do what is evil in his sight? They looked like Solomon observed in Ecc 1:15, that which is crooked cannot be made straight. When we take up the plummet to build things straight, God is fully involved in our work. Christian Reconstruction, Edward J. Naomi's tragic losses . As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Similar themes are laid out in Isaiah 57 as well. I receive you as my Lord and my Savior. American Standard Version I will go before thee, and make the rough places smooth; I will break in pieces the doors of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron; Berean Study Bible THis episode is to encourage you who are going through the fire. The crooked path is also the spiritual and emotional way or road a person is traveling through life. And not just for me. I will lead them in paths they have not known. The highway allows Egypt and Assyria to serve God together in blessing to the world. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. It is a transformed heart, the heart of a new creation. Where is it all going to? Have you not puta hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? And make the crooked places straight; And said, You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. If He does this, He will always be near and He will give the strength to endure). But that is the great lie. The Crooked Places Made Straight- Warrior Mom Wisdom - Week of January On And Off The Runway - Instagram I knew they were from Scripture, but not from any passage I was studying. Young provides key insights into Isaiahs prophecy. And look, you blind, that you may see. His greatest fear is that you will walk in the truth, you will walk on the straight path, and he will not be able to sap your strength, divert you from your destiny in Christ, negate your Kingdom power, and make your straight path crooked. The mountain that was a massive oppressive blockade will be removed in Jesus Name. 2. He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. Now Is The Time - Sermon Central For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? 'I will go before you And make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze And cut the bars of iron. The only weapon satan has to counter this truth is deception. Or more precisely, because of the power and authority I exercise in partnership with Him when I am in Christ. similar features to illustrate a point. E. Johnson, quoted in Spence & Exell, op. What happens when you hit a huge immovable brick wall, it is like a mountain that suddenly looms in front of you, a daunting huge block of an obstacle, stopping your progress and brings your vehicle to a dead standstill. We see a parrellal in this verse, to reinforce the point, that even if you are the most difficult case, nothing is impossible with God. Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. n God will be nobody's co-pilot. While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? Now if we are blind, we do not see the right place to be and cannot see the right path to take. God says He will make the crooked places straight, so that we can see with our imagination, the good things and have the faith that will move that mountain in our life, bring us up out of that rut, the valley and the circumstances that hold us back and prevent us from achieving in life. Thank God, that He had a backup plan and a rescue package, an antivirus and the works prepared for us, you know like disaster recovery, that you need to put into place in the event of destruction to the original. DARBY Type Repentance into the seach bar to find them). It is when we know things are drastically wrong that we pull out suddenly from incoming disaster. When we say Gods ways are higher than our ways, He is not there looking down, waiting for us to fall with some kind of superior, satisfaction and says to us in a booming authority voice - "there told you so!!! Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. When God commands us (for prepare ye is in the plural) to prepare the Lords way by making the highway in the desert straight (Isa. It can also be a twisted place, like the coils of a serpent. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. The way can be straight, not because of my efforts and power, but because of His. 18 Hear, you deaf; If our thinking has become crooked for some reason, we then also, see things from a crooked perspective and so it limits our potential to overcome lifes, inevitable obstacles and curve balls. It puts repentance in it's proper context and perspective. As Christoph Starke (1684-1744) observed, it costs time and labor to level mountains.8 He adds that God seeks fruit and is not contented with mere leaves.9 God is looking for straight paths to be built. R H I confess and repent of __________ (list the sins you are aware of. God makes the crooked straight. It comes from a surrendered heart that is submitted to God and believes His guidance; it is a transformed heart that comes with repentance. 2. ibid, p. 251. Internal motivations and thought patterns are just that, part of who we are type of thing going off there, inside. It also, can bring a loser mentality and a hopeless attitude, that can paralyse us and keep us from reaching our potential and restrict us from dealing with the challenges that we face. And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. Young walks us through what God promises when the crooked ways are finally made straight and the highway of holiness is completed. God makes the crooked places in my heart straight; and 3. 2023 Beautiful Christian Life LLC. In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.. 154 likes, 0 comments - City Church Lagos (@citychurchlagos) on Instagram on January 16, 2023: " A royal figure does not arrive at a place alone, in fact, a forerunner goes ahead to prepar." City Church Lagos on Instagram: " A royal figure does not arrive at a place alone, in fact, a forerunner goes ahead to prepare for their coming. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. It shall not return to Me void, A voice of one calling in the desert, Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him. He is considered a foremost expert in the thinking of R.J. Rushdoony. The crookedness in God's creation began with a created being, Satan, whose heart was lifted up, who thought of himself more highly than he should. Do good, O Lord, to those who are good, and to those who are upright in their hearts! And it is sad, but true, that there are some people who dont want to be straight they like to live on the crooked path; they dont want to live in the light, they prefer the darkness. I believe this is the origin of the phrase, he is on the straight and narrow, which means he is living an honest and healthy life in the original meaning, a Godly life. And Ahab said to Obadiah, Go through the land to all the springs of water and to all the valleys. If you are reading this post and have not accepted Jesus as Lord, and are tired of living a crooked life, pray this prayer and then find a church where you can be cherished and led deeper into the most fulfilling life you could ever imagine: Jesus, I am tired to living a crooked life focused only on myself. But God intervened. 4 Every valley is raised up, And every mountain and hill become low, And the crooked place hath become a plain, And the entangled places a valley. 1,908 likes, 110 comments - On And Off The Runway - Joyce Williams (@onandofftherunway) on Instagram on September 28, 2020: "The last few months I decided that I . it is a place of stillness and peace, where your dependency is entirely on God and you listen for His sweet advice and hear His word for your life. 2. All of this past, present, and future is accomplished through His power and my faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Isaiah 45:2 - I will go before thee, and make the crooked places - GodTube It is a heart surrendered and submitted to God, worshiping, praising, and obeying Him. But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? Share. Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. Statham elaborates: Edward J. Joseph had cause to be prideful when he was young because his father favored him, and dreams indicated that his brothers would bow down to him (Gen. 37:1-11). Naomi's husband foolishly took his family to Moab to escape a drought in Bethlehem-judah. Peace be upon Israel! I have written about the critical importance of repentance in other posts (Actually, at least 10 other posts. God then says to Cyrus that He (the Lord) will make the crooked places straight. These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. Then shall the crooked be made straight. Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked? Ecclesiastes 7:13. God makes straight the spiritual path or road I am on by removing the mountains in my way and making the rough way smooth, just as the Luke passage above illustrates; 2. 1701 Rand Morgan Rd.Corpus Christi, TX 78410(361) 241-6100, Sunday School 10AMSunday Preaching 11AMSunday Evening 6PMWednesday Evening 7PMWednesday Bible Club 7PM, 2011-2021 Bible Believers Baptist Church, All Rights Reserved. So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. In other words, He has somehow redeemed those situations and circumstances in the past where I was deceitful, fraudulent, and even wicked. 40:5) shall see Gods glory revealed in the earth. For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greedGod is witness. They dont consider that the author of Ecclesiastes walked by sight when he said Observe the work of God, for who can straighten what he has made crooked? Bartholomew says. Crooked in the Bible (38 instances) - Knowing Jesus Now there is a highway which is straight and it appears in the desert of life, there are no potholes and cracks, no twisting and turning in a dangerous fashion and it is created when our vision is adjusted to Gods ways. That you may know that I, the Lord, Who call you by your name, Am the God of Israel(Isaiah 45: 2, 3 NKJV). Only to be discovered after much testing, or way down the track when an unknown situation arises, or when a user presses all the buttons at once and it blows! They are made clean and given a new heart as a result of the blood that Jesus Christ shed for them (Is. Neither faints nor is weary. David said to him, Where do you come from? And he said to him, I have escaped from the camp of Israel. And David said to him, How did it go? I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. ForI was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, andhere also I have done nothing that they should put me into the pit.Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him. Terms of Use Privacy Policy Copyright Policy, Temptation, Armor of God, Prayer, Devil, Satan, Lust, Pride, Greed, Lust of the flesh, Pride of life, Galatians 5, Vices in Galatians, Doubt, Trusting God, Saving faith, Believing in Christ, Doubting Thomas, Resurrection, Click Here to Subscribe to BCL's Free Monthly Newsletter and Weekday Devotional, Why It's Reasonable to Believe in Jesus' Resurrection, When Pastors Water Down the Truth of Gods Word, The Connection Between Jesus' Miracles, Faith, and the Coming of the Kingdom. While God forgave the repentant David for his sins of adultery and murder, David still faced consequences for his actions. Thered be no reason for the prophet to talk about the crooked being made straight unless we start with a crooked post-fall world. Not just a patch up, but a whole new program is available for each of us, the way it was meant to be, where we run efficiently in the original intention. Straighten the crooked paths and smooth out the rough roads. A Study Of Isaiah 45:2-3 | Jesus is LORD! The command is Prepare ye [plural] the way of the Lord. Rawlinson asserts that the way of the Lord is the way of holiness of Isaiah 35:8.5 That is precisely the highway to be built by His people. After Joseph asked Pharaohs chief cup bearer to speak to the ruler about his unjust imprisonment, he still remained in prison for two more years: In three days Pharaoh willlift up your head and restore you to your office, and you shall place Pharaoh's cup in his hand as formerly, when you were his cupbearer. We cannot straighten the crookedness of the world, but through God's power, we can straighten our own paths. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me. Jesus restores and redeems He makes crooked paths straight. Some things are deeply ingrained and take time to reverse, so as long as we understand the process and see that if we trust God with our future, that He will graciously see that the effect will take place, it is a matter of faith and believing sometimes when we are in the face of opposing conditions. Isaiah 45:2 - Bible Gateway For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. He straightened out a huge mess. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Then there is those deep and dark valleys that are hard to get back out of, if you are in a vehicle then you are straining and in low gears and using a lot of gas to get back up on level ground, if it is wet and slippery it will make matters worse, it can be a real struggle to come out of the valleys in life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. Nothing can make crooked things straight. The conversion of Egypt is mentioned first (Isa. It cost him dearly in the death of their son and three of his other sons. Walk and not faint. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. To whom will you liken me and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike? P God wants us to lead our paths, since He is the one who makes them straight. Made by Refuge Creative | 2022 | Hendersonville, NC. After Moses struck the rock at Meribah to bring forth water instead of speaking to it as God commanded him to do, God did not allow Moses or Aaron to enter the promised land (Num. But back to the text. It is a Kingdom heart a heart that loves God (Mark 12: 29 31) and loves others before itself. God, as only God can do, made these crooked things straight. I heard it in the context of, once again, being accused and condemned by satan for what I did or said in my past life. 9 likes, 0 comments - Donald Cox (@bigtimercox) on Instagram: "Good Morning Big Timer ( " THIS YEAR: May everything God has proposed for you, according to his . Even Moses, who spoke with God face-to-face, failed to obey perfectly. Young's Literal Translation for Isaiah 40:4. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways. I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron. The Greek word for crooked isskoliosmeaning perverse, wicked, or curved. There is a voice crying out in the wilderness of our soul that persitently and compassionately calls us to the right path of life. When we entered this world, we took on some inherited corrupt code if you like from the program DNA and yes; although we are not machines, we can take