12.6: “Come Let Us Adore Him”

Friday, December 6

“Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: the crooked straight, and the rough places plain.” 

Isaiah 40:4* (Also, read Isaiah 40:1-5)

  

Taken out of context, this verse might seem like a mission statement for a highway department.  But as an expansion on the previous verse – “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God” – it describes the steps to be taken to create this desert highway.  A new relationship with God will follow, a relationship in which God’s glory will be revealed (v. 5). So, it is important to prepare a highway in the desert for this relationship.

The desert was not only a place where the Israelites spent forty years wandering but also a time when they enjoyed an intimate relationship with God who guided them with clouds and a pillar of fire. It was a time when the corruptions of Egypt were worn away and their relationship with God became a priority. God is a personal God who feeds His flock and carries the lambs (v. 11). It is a heart relationship, and the crooked and rough places that that need straightening and smoothing are heart issues, not road problems.

As the Word became flesh, so too must flesh become receptive to the Word. We need to participate in the mission of John the Baptist to prepare the way of the Lord.

As we look back in this Advent season at Christ’s birth and forward to His return, let us prepare our hearts so we may be ready for the glory of the Lord to be revealed.

 

 

Prayer:

 Lord, too often our hearts are places of rough and crooked paths. Help us to have hearts with straight highways for your grace.  In the name of Jesus, the Messiah, the Word made flesh, we pray. Amen.

Dave De Graaf