“The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.” — Luke 3:4
The voice crying in the wilderness demanded a way for the Lord, a way
prepared, and a way prepared in the wilderness. I would be attentive to
the Master’s proclamation, and give Him a road into my heart, cast up by
gracious operations, through the desert of my nature. The four directions
in the text must have my serious attention.
Every valley must be exalted. Low and grovelling thoughts of God must be
given up; doubting and despairing must be removed; and self-seeking and
carnal delights must be forsaken. Across these deep valleys a glorious
causeway of grace must be raised.
Every mountain and hill shall be laid low. Proud creature-sufficiency, and
boastful self-righteousness, must be levelled, to make a highway for the
King of kings. Divine fellowship is never vouchsafed to haughty,
highminded sinners. The Lord hath respect unto the lowly, and visits the
contrite in heart, but the lofty are an abomination unto Him. My soul,
beseech the Holy Spirit to set thee right in this respect.
The crooked shall be made straight. The wavering heart must have a
straight path of decision for God and holiness marked out for it.
Double-minded men are strangers to the God of truth. My soul, take heed
that thou be in all things honest and true, as in the sight of the
heart-searching God.
The rough places shall be made smooth. Stumbling-blocks of sin must be
removed, and thorns and briers of rebellion must be uprooted. So great a
visitor must not find miry ways and stony places when He comes to
honour His favoured ones with His company. Oh that this evening the
Lord may find in my heart a highway made ready by His grace, that He
may make a triumphal progress through the utmost bounds of my soul,
from the beginning of this year even to the end of it.
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