Making Rough Places Smooth

Just about everybody has heard about John the Baptizer, the one who showed up out of the wilderness to start baptizing people in the Jordan river. John announced the
coming of the Messiah, whom they were anticipating, with a message of repentance from sin as well as the new idea of baptism. People responded by showing up, listening and being baptized. God's word was having its effect!

Luke claims in chapter 3 "Isaiah had spoken of John" when he quotes the words of Isaiah 40:3-5. Luke writes: “He is a voice shouting in the wilderness,‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming! Clear the road for him! The valleys will be filled, and the mountains and hills made level. The curves will be straightened, and the rough places made smooth. And then all people will see the salvation sent from God.’" Isaiah's words are definitely speaking about preparing for the coming Messiah, but they sound similar to the announcement of a ruler's visit and the need to repair the local roads as a welcome. Can you visualize the work parties and equipment on a little rutted road:  straightening, leveling, digging, filling and smoothing until it becomes a broad highway for the king's approach to a city? Luke asks us to think of it in terms of John's work in his own ministry, making preparations for the much greater ministry of Jesus the Messiah, who was coming. But there's a metaphor involved here too, with a personal impact on you and me.

We could also ask ourselves, you and I, "Where are the bumps and valleys and ruts and potholes in my life? Where are my thinking, emotions and me-centered motivations creating a more difficult entrance for God in my life? Am I slowing down, so to speak, the way God the Holy Spirit can speak to me? In what way is the written word of God running into obstacles in my mind, so that the work of Living Word of God, Jesus Christ, in my life is impeded?"

There are several 'sin lists' in the Bible such as Galatians 5:19-21. Many other negative traits of thinking and emotion are in the book of Proverbs. All of us at one time or another could name sin and negative attitudes like stubbornness, anger, lust (and maybe using pornography), selfish desires and on it goes. Which of those may be continuing to arise in our lives? When they do, we can be sure that God's work in us is impeded.  Another way to ask ourselves would be, what in my life does God desire to 'straighten' or 'level out'?

None of this is to say, though, that our Father has some sort of grudge against us and is going to get harsh with us if we don't listen. He is first of all a loving Father (1 John 4:8). His love, though, will pursue us, to help us to see and reject anything in us that is not of him, and to cooperate with him in building up what is of Christ. Gradually, the 'road' that is our heart will be broadened, smoothed and leveled, so that the King has an easy entrance. Will you work with him on the project?