Scripture, is one of the certified methods of prayer; and it is as well, answers to prayer. With so many needs, we tend to only ask God, and forget that He does not need to first provide the actual need to prove that He has heard us. He reassures us time & again the state of His answer. Being omnipotent & omniscient, He can hear us before we even speak (Isaiah 65:24)
He speaks to Cyrus that He’d go before Him and make all crooked places straight by Isaiah saying
I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron. (65:24)
C.S. Lewis however explains of God in a way that can make you change the tense. He said, “If you picture time as a straight line along which we have to travel, then you must picture God as the whole page on which the line is drawn. We come to the parts of the line one by one: we have to leave A behind before we get to B, and cannot reach C until we leave B behind. God, from above or outside or all round, contains the whole line, and sees it all.”
This means; that as we see His future promise as D while we are still at B, to God all is present. As we transition to C (present), He sees D (our future) while seeing C, and A (our past) all at the same time. Tense therefore is helping us comprehend — us who are traveling on the line; which doesn’t mean that God is constrained to the line like us. He’s outside the line, outside time, so we can borrow His perspective and reality: no past, no present, no future. All is now. Lewis says He sees both the start of the line and the end of it at the same time. Your future is already happening while your past is just getting to sleep. Hence ‘I will go before thee’ we can rephrase to ‘I have gone before thee’ or ‘I went before thee.’
What does this mean?
It means, ‘I have gone before thee, and MADE all crooked places straight!’ I don’t need to explain the crooked places here. These are already places in destiny that seem blurry and unvivid. Places like relationships, your marriage (for you who’s not), career, ministry … name it.
He has made straight your relationships. They are blessed. He protects you from the likes of Judas, preserving your going out and coming in. His jealousy towards you will ensure that you don’t get friends who will distort your consecration before Him. He brings (— infact has brought) friends who align with your destiny! Great thinkers, great challengers! Men and women who will dare you to believe more. Men and women who will not bow to Nebuchadnezzar’s image with you. Friends who will be thrown in the fire with you! You won’t go in alone, and the fourth man will be seen with you in there!
He has made straight the place of your marriage. You are not unequally yoked. Remember the tense we are using! The future is present to us. You won’t need to explain to your spouse why you have the urge to suddenly pray. You won’t explain to your spouse why you are waking at 3am to shunder! You will be of like mind … understanding each other when the Spirit chooses to move like the wind: He or she will even join in as you soak in prayer! Your children are blessed! Your seed is already mighty upon the earth!
Your career is up there! Isn’t it God who said that your path would shine brighter and brighter unto a perfect day?! Well, your career is already at its peak! Walk by faith and not by sight! Behold it from where He is! He said He’d increase your greatness and comfort you on every side! But today’s sermon tells you He HAS already increased that greatness! Be lifted to be at D and not at B! Your life is even more glorious at this point!
Same goes for your ministry and assignment on earth! See it as He has painted it in your heart! Not as something distant, but something ongoing!
Ah . . . how do we respond to this revelation?
Give thanks! Thank Him! Your future is already done! You are in your own house — your dream house. I open the eyes of your understanding by the Spirit! SEE as He sees in Jesus’ name! You have graduated already! Hallelujah! Who art thou O great mountain? Before the reader of this, you have become (in fact you became) a plain! Rejoice! And give Him pure thanks!
O that men would praise God for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! The psalmist beckoned. This is the part where you offer that praise! That handclap! That dance! He WENT before you! He MADE aaaaall crooked places straight! No need to worry therefore!
He BROKE in pieces the gates of brass! He CUT in sunder the bars of iron. He already fought the battles you were meant to engage! He already knocked down the doors you were told were impossible to go through!
This is to encourage you even as you continue to wait. Bear the image of the future. It’s already done! The glory that’s to come isn’t worthy to be compared to this little suffering you are going through. The Israelites eventually left Egypt! Abraham eventually had Isaac! God girds you with the patience you need as you await your body to arrive at D, even if your Spirit is already at point E! Hallelujah! Your healing is so! As a man thinks so is He.
If you believe He will heal … you can just act like He already did! Your body will catch up. If you believe He will fill your womb … you can just dress with that pillow and help your physical reconcile what your imagination has seen! His word won’t return to Him void. By His stripes you were healed! He asked ‘do I bring to the moment of birth and not give delivery?’ I like to say ‘will He give breasts and not give a baby to suckle them?’ . . .
Ecclesiastes 7:13 states ‘Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked?’ Our theme scripture states He’s made the crooked straight. So I ask, ‘who can make crooked, which He hath made straight?!’ Haha! Who?
He has made you glorious? Who can undo it?
Give thanks!
For who can make crooked what He has made straight!?
