The path of the righteous is level;
you make level the way of the righteous.
8 In the path of your judgments,
O Lord, we wait for you;
your name and remembrance
are the desire of our soul.
9 My soul yearns for you in the night;
my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.
For when your judgments are in the earth,
the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
A few years ago Jacinda and I were living in California. When we moved back to Illinois we packed up all our stuff into a small Uhaul trailer and my dad and I drove across the country. We left Lodi, CA went through Sacramento and soon began winding our way up into the Sierra Nevada mountains.
As we climbed the road was steep at times and had some relatively sharp curves, but was always smooth and marked with signs to guide us when those curves were coming and warn when the grade of a hill would be steep. While you had to slow at times, especially towing a trailer behind a small SUV, the travel was easy. Someone had made a very nice, easy path for us to drive upon.
God does something similar with his "judgments" and laws. While we Americans don't like people telling us what to do, we also know that rules are important and even good for life! Just like a sign on a road that tells us to slow down or watch for a sharp curve ahead, God's laws help guide and direct us so that we have better, safer, and more fulfilling lives.
But those laws are not the reason we are traveling. My dad and I were not driving just to drive (though the scenery was beautiful!). We had a destination. We were heading somewhere. Jacinda and I, with the recent addition of our daughter Stella, were starting a new chapter in our lives that meant we would have to leave California. We weren't out driving for the sake of driving.
In our journey of life the rules that God gives us are not the main thing. They direct and instruct, but the main thing is the destination: God!
Verse 9 of this passage says, "My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you." The path that was made level, the path of the judgments of God are put in place to help us in our journey to God!
But we cannot forget that Christmas points out that we cannot get their on our own. We need someone to make a way for us. That is why Jesus came (John 14:6).
Jesus is the path. Jesus coming down into our world, becoming a vulnerable child, growing into a man who died on a cross and rose from the grave is shocking because it proclaims that we are unable to travel the path on our own. Someone had to make the way passable for us. Jesus paved the way to the Father. The cross is the path that we travel in faith. The cross is God's judgment against sin. It is where we receive forgiveness and a new life as a child of a loving Father.
If we long to be in relationship with God, the only way to get there is through Jesus and His cross.
Heavenly Father, help us to follow the path of faith that you have paved through the cross and resurrection of your Son, Jesus. Give us a yearning and desire to trust Him and wait for His work in our lives. Prepare the way of righteousness in our hearts this Advent. In Jesus' holy name we pray. Amen.
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