Our Responsibility—preparing the Way for the Lord

Tonight I would like to touch on a point that I believe is very important on this journey that leads us to the manger. And I wanted to reflect on Isaiah chapter 40; it is one of the best-known texts during this Christmas season. Isaiah 40, the opening verses, which say:

“…Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, proclaim to her that her time has been fulfilled, that her sin has been forgiven, that she has received double from the hand of the Lord for all her sins. Behold, the voice crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight a highway in the desert for our God. Let every valley be raised up, and every mountain and hill be made low; let the crooked be made straight and the rough places smooth. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken…”

This passage speaks to us of a voice crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight a highway in the desert for our God. And whenever I come across this text, I tell myself how remarkable it is that in the deserts of this world in which we live, and even more so in the deserts of our own lives, we are given the great responsibility of preparing a way for the great King and welcoming him in—the King of kings and Lord of lords.

It is a call to do things the other way around; it is a call to go in a completely new direction. It is a call to a new way of living. And he says it right there in the text itself, when he says that every valley is to be raised up. Imagine that: you are looking at a valley, and what he is saying is that this valley should be raised up; it is as though he were saying that a mountain should arise in the middle of that valley. And that the mountains should be leveled—it is like turning things upside down. What was once flat is to be raised, and what was once high is to be flattened.

What was crooked must be straightened, and what was rough must be smoothed out one way or another. It is like going against what is normal, against what everyone else is following. It means going in a completely new direction; it means thinking about things in a totally different way. Just imagine how you are going to flatten a mountain. Unless you have dynamite and blow it up and build a road or something like that—but all of that requires work, requires responsibility, requires you and me to do something.

It is not saying that this King’s army will come and do these things; it is saying that we have to do them. The responsibility of preparing that way for the Lord is given to us. And that way must be prepared in the deserts of our lives. This message is reaching the people of Israel during a time of captivity, a time when they were being oppressed by nations that were greater than they were, a time when perhaps they could not see hope at the end of the tunnel. They could not see where their help would come from. Nevertheless, at that very moment God brings this word: Comfort, comfort my people, because God has heard them.

What a beautiful word! In the midst of all the frenzy, may we hear that voice saying, “Be comforted; be calm; do not be anxious; do not lose your peace; do not lose your focus. God has not forgotten you.” God is very attentive to your circumstances in life; God is very attentive to the needs you may have. And in those moments he brings this word: “There is something I want to do. I want to bring a new portion of my glory into your lives, an exceedingly important portion, because we are talking about the Son of God; that is the gift he is going to bring.”

But he is saying, “You have to prepare the way. I cannot do it for you; you have to prepare it.” And how does one prepare the way? How do we do it? How do we prepare ourselves for such a commission? How do we prepare ourselves to receive the King, the King of kings and Lord of lords? We might then consider this Christmas account in which the angel Gabriel appears to the Virgin Mary. Do you remember that account?

Luke chapter 1. Look at how the account reads; I love reading this story. Luke chapter 1, verse 26:

“…In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary—all the Marys here can identify with her in one way or another—and when the angel came in—imagine this movie; imagine that you are watching a scene from a movie in which this angel Gabriel enters, full of light, radiant, perhaps two or three times as tall as Mary, since we know that Mary was a young girl, a teenager, so to speak—when he came in, he said to her, ‘Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women.’ But when she saw him, she was troubled; she was confused by his words and said, ‘What kind of greeting is this? What sort of entrance is this? What are you trying to tell me?’ Then the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid, for you have found favor before God. You will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David, his father, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.’ But Mary, in her confusion, in her lack of understanding, did not know what else to think or what else to say, and she could only ask, ‘And how will this be? How will this happen, since I have not known a man, since I have not had relations with any man?’ ‘Do not worry; this is a mystery. God will take care of it.’ And that is where we find these words that serve as an inspiration to all of us: ‘What is impossible for you is possible for God…’

How can we prepare ourselves, my brothers and sisters? I tell you, it is a mystery. God is a very clear God, but at the same time he is a mysterious God, because God makes things out of what does not exist. God merely speaks something, and it comes into being. And no one can explain that. Science cannot explain it; medicine cannot explain it; these are mysteries of God. And in one way or another, those mysteries of God enter our lives at different moments, at different stages. Those mysteries of God draw near to us, and many times we cannot understand them, we cannot conceive of them, and like Mary we say, “And how will this be?” We are given a diagnosis of an illness, and people come and weep for you: “Do not worry; God is going to heal you.” How will this be?

You are in a financial mess and do not know where the next check will come from. “Ah, let’s pray; God will provide.” And part of you may say, “Yes, I trust in God, but how will this be?” I also like to use this example: your husband, your wife—sometimes they seem to compete over who can cause the other the biggest headache—and you are continually praying for your spouse and asking yourself, “Lord, how will this be? How will that word you gave me, that things are going to change, come to pass?”

From parents to children, or with other relatives, even with brothers and sisters within the church, we ask ourselves, “How will this be?” And that question—“How will this be?”—often represents those seasons of wilderness and confusion, when we sometimes find ourselves alone, and those places, those moments, do not allow us to see clearly how things will happen afterward. But that is where the power and mystery of God are perfected.

That is where God intervenes in one way or another. It is in those moments, when you cannot understand what is happening, that the promise of the impossible comes into your life. And it does not come from just any man or woman; it comes from God. For you it is impossible, but for God it is not.

You know that you and I like to know everything, don’t you? We like to know everything. We want to have a financial plan to settle our debts, and we want to know what we are going to do with our finances each year. If we want to move from one house to another, we make plans for how we will do it. When we want to go on vacation, we make plans about when we will go, how much we will spend, where we will go, and whom we will go with. We make plans for everything. We like to know everything because knowledge gives us a sense of control.

We even want to hear the latest gossip and joke too, of course; we want to know everything. But many times, not knowing everything is precisely what God wants. That is where God wants us to be; that is where Mary was—in a place where she did not know everything. That is where the people of Israel were—at a moment, at a stage in their lives, when they did not know everything. Nevertheless, in that very vulnerable place, in that place of supposed ignorance, that is where God’s promise comes and reaches you, begins to shed light on your life, and begins to guide you in the direction he wants you to go.

It is not the direction you want to go, although many times God allows you to go in that direction. But when God sees that your direction is taking you somewhere God does not want—or does not intend—for you, God will take it upon himself, as the psalm so aptly says, to make your steps straight and bring you back once again to the path he wants for you.

Opening ourselves to those mysteries of God requires humility on our part. It requires us, like Mary, to be able to say, “Behold the maidservant, the servant of God; let it be done to me as God wills.” I do not know everything; I do not know where the answer is around the corner, but it is around the corner, and I am going to wait for it. It requires being able to confront the impossible: the impossible within ourselves, the impossible within our families, the impossible in the society in which we live. It requires confronting the impossible—but not confronting it alone. Rather, it means confronting it with confidence in that promise that the God of the impossible is with us. And he is the one who takes care of opening doors. And above all, my brothers and sisters, on that journey to the manger, it requires being able to contemplate with expectation the hope that is to come, that hope that comes with Christmas. Something new is born at Christmas; there is a reason they call it the best season of the entire year. Something new is born there.

And I believe that is something God brings. So I encourage you, my brothers and sisters, to begin reflecting on these things. Only God knows where he wants to lead us during these Wednesday services as we reflect on these things; only God knows where he wants to lead us, where he wants us to go. Later we will consider different characters in this story who came to the manger. Each of them had their own life experiences; nevertheless, each and every one of them, when they arrived at the manger, had their lives transformed.

I believe that on our journey of faith, on our journey toward the manger, my expectation, my hope, is that when we arrive there, our lives will be transformed according to God’s purposes and designs for each one of us. So I encourage you, brothers and sisters, let us focus our minds on this. Yes, plan the meals you are going to make and the gifts you are going to buy; that is part of the season. But amid everything, do not forget the true meaning of all these days that are to come.

So I encourage you: let us stand, let us pray, and let us bring this time with the Lord to a close with these words. Beloved God, we thank you for your word, Lord. Thank you for this time tonight, for everything we have been able to do, for everything we have been able to pray about, Lord. And we know that our prayers do not remain at the ceiling, Lord, but come into your presence. You are very attentive to each one of them, Lord. Jesus, I ask you that on this journey upon which we are now embarking, during these coming Wednesdays as we reflect on your arrival as King in our lives, we ask you, Lord, that our hearts may be opened, that they may be open and receptive to whatever you have for us, Lord.

And may your word continue to echo within our hearts. I ask your blessing upon each of my brothers and sisters tonight, Lord; your blessing upon the Serrano family and all their friends who are here, Jesus. And may your grace and your favor remain with us, Father.

Bring us safely to our homes; protect us on the way back, Lord. During our rest tonight, may our bodies renew their strength, and tomorrow, if you so permit, Lord, may we be able to face everything tomorrow may bring. Thank you once again for this night. We pray through your Son Jesus, amen and amen. My brothers and sisters, I invite you to bring your offerings as we finish and close this service. Let us sing once again, “God Will Make a Way.”