Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
Have you had those times where you're scrolling through some kind of social media and it seems like all of your friends, everybody that you know and are looking at from the outside in, just has the most amazing life? All you see are your rough times, your rough life, and the difficulties you're going through, and everyone else seems to have such a great, perfect, and pristine life. Have you had that happen to you before? I think we've all had those moments where we just wish we had it that easy and that fun.
Understanding the Context
We have a unique Verse of the Day today that gives us a little snapshot, almost of that feeling, but we're going to unpack it a little bit to get into the context.
It's Isaiah chapter 26, verse 7: "But for those who are righteous, the way is not steep and rough. You are a God who does what is right, and You smooth out the path ahead of them."
What is this passage really saying? Again, just like I was talking about, I'm sure we can look at this verse and think, wait a second. I must not be righteous because this verse says that He will make their way, or their way will not be steep or rough, that God will smooth out the pathway in front of them. You're probably sitting there thinking, can I sign up for that? It feels like we're looking from the outside in, and that's definitely not my life, because my life has rough times. It has bumps in the road. It's a struggle.
Let's look at the context. When we focus on the rough times, the steep terrain, the difficulty, it feels more tangible the way it's described. But let's look at the context of the passage. In Isaiah chapter 26, verses 3 and 4, it says: "You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, all whose thoughts are fixed on You."
You will keep in perfect peace those whose thoughts are fixed on You and who trust in You. It doesn't seem as tangible. It's more about practicing how we actually behave and placing our trust in God. Because it goes on in verse 4, it says: "Trust in the LORD always, for the LORD God is the eternal rock."
Again, this is giving you a tangible picture of eternal rock. That's why I want to delve into the context so it doesn't feel like we're standing on the outside looking in, because tangibly, our life can be rough. It can be difficult, stressful, and so it can feel like this verse doesn't apply to us. What's wrong with me? Am I not a righteous person?
Peter Walking on Water
I'd love to dig into a little bit of context of the best biblical illustration that I can think of—Peter walking on the water. As you know, the wind and waves are all around him, and he starts focusing on them. He starts to sink. Jesus lifts him up out of the water and reminds him to keep his eyes fixed on Him, and he continues to walk on water when he does. Then, catch this, they get back into the boat and then the Bible says the wind ceased.
It's like whoa, whoa. Jesus was on the water. You would think in the presence of Jesus, everything would be calm. No wind, no waves, no difficulty. But that's the crazy cool thing about that passage is that all of this stuff was going on. They get back in the boat outside of the water, walking on the water, and that's when everything stops. You would think it'd be the complete opposite of that. But that's the amazing thing about the story. The story isn't about Peter sinking. You catch that? Could you imagine if he got in the boat and one of the disciples said, yeah, Peter, way to go, sinking there? There is no way in the world they would even go there and talk about that. Do you know why? Because he walked on water.
Keeping Your Eyes on Jesus
That's the amazing thing about this verse. When it talks about the righteous, you can be in this category. It's not the tangible things of looking from the outside saying, man, my life is rough. My way is not smooth and straight. It's actually about this principle that we learned about Peter walking on the water. It didn't say that there was no wind and waves in the midst of it. It was, Peter walked on water when he kept his eyes on Jesus. The righteous keep our eyes on Jesus. It doesn't become about the rough terrain or the steep slope in our life, or the difficulties. It becomes, it feels like we're walking on water in this. He smooths out the path for us because we trust in Him and He gives us peace even in the difficulty of life, even in the struggles.
I would encourage you, you don't have to look at this verse on the outside. You can experience this. Allow the presence of Jesus in your life, keeping your eyes on Him so that He will smooth out your path before you. It doesn't mean there's not going to be a struggle. It means in the midst of it, you can look back and see God did something supernatural in you. He gave you peace in the midst of it, to feel like you're walking on water. You're getting through it in His presence, by His side as a righteous person, experiencing Him today.
