Sons in the Marketplace – Know How To Straighten
November 19th, 2007 | Michael Q. Pink
“Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him; and I will (1) loose the armor of kings,(2) to open before him the two-leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; (3) I will go before you, and (4) make the crooked places straight: (Isa 45:1-3)
I mentioned in my last email on this subject that sometimes God makes the path crooked. He often puts the bends and twists and turns in the path to work things out in our lives. It is futile to fight against the bends that He puts in the road. If you do find a way around the trial, you are actually worse off. It would be like helping a butterfly emerge from its cocoon. Butterflies develop the strength they need to fly by struggling to get out of the cocoon. If they get out of the cocoon without the struggle, they will never be able to fly and will soon die, falling short of what they were created to do. (N’est pas?)
Not all paths were made crooked by God. When sin came into the world, a lot of things became crooked that were originally made straight. The most obvious things that have been made crooked by sin have to do with our old flesh nature: Crooked desires, crooked dispositions, crooked words, crooked thoughts, etc. That which has been made crooked by sin, God has made straight by the blood of Jesus Christ. That is to say, there is now a straight path we can follow, the path of straight words, straight thinking, godly desires and dispositions, etc. Before Christ, sin had dominion over us, (Rom 6:14) but now we have been freed from the law of sin and death (Rom 8:2) and thus freed from sin (Rom 6:14).
As Christians, we are called to make our path straight. To walk the straight and narrow. No more speaking with forked tongue. Our words to be words of iron. Thinking on things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely and of good report. The straight path can be very difficult as we straighten out by the grace of God those things that are crooked in us, but it is the path that leads to life and few there be that find it. (Matt 7:14)
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November 19th, 2007 at 9:41 am
Michael
“the path of straight words, straight thinking, godly desires and dispositions”
I have started reading Augustine confessions and to quote from him.
From Augustine quoting Roman 13:14
“Make no provision for the flesh to gratify it’s desires”
What are the desires of the flesh? Well, for me they are, slothfulness, lazy, deceitful, not telling the whole truth, not being diligent, thinking I work for man instead as unto the Lord, (Col. 3:23),
Now if we do all these things, we may still not be successful in the eyes of the world, but we will have joy in God which should be our purpose while we are here on earth.
November 19th, 2007 at 10:20 am
Aside from the great information that is written here, the title “Sons in the Marketplace” makes this advice appear to be only to sons and not also daughters. Should it not be “Sons and Daughters in the Marketplace”? Please don’t forget us! Thanks.
November 19th, 2007 at 10:50 am
Mr. Pink:
Thank you for your timely message as I am currently on a crooked path in my career but am trusting in God and His grace that He will make a straight path for me in the near future. I am trusting Him to let this crooked path be a way to prepare me for greater things for His glory.
When you get a chance, please keep me in your prayers, I’d appreciate it!
Regards,
Michael T.
November 19th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
Dear Rachel;
Thanks for writing in. I don’t use the term “sons” in a gender sense but merely quoting the term used so often in Scripture. In many of these blogs I point out that it’s not a gender term as I certainly don’t want to do anything to leave the women out of the equation. That would be a big mistake. I often tell my wife, that women are included in the term “sons of God” and men are included as the “Bride of Christ”. No worries my dear sister. Women are not left out in my book! I would not be where I am today without the woman in my life… my wife. Blessings, Michael
November 20th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
This is simply an amazing teaching, most especially at this TIME.
The analogy of the butterfly truly hit my heart. WOKE ME UP !!!
The road has been crooked for me for SOO long, I lost hope.. was exhausted, remain alone, not wanting anyone to KNOW my business and praying & fasting…I KNOW the LORD LOVES me…
Thank you for this beautiful, timely teaching….I’m back on TRACK !!!