September 8

Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill made low; the uneven ground will become smooth, and the rugged land a plain. — Isa 40:4 BSB

If your journey toward heaven had no valleys, no mountains or hills, no crooked paths or rough places with thorns and stones, it wouldn’t seem like the path the saints of God have always walked. Nor would it seem like you needed special help from above, or any divine power to save and sustain you. But because you are walking this path by God’s own appointment, and find valleys of deep depression, mountains of difficulty, crooked things you can’t straighten, and rough places you can’t smooth, you are driven by necessity to look for help from above.

These very difficulties are what make your case one suited to the gospel and show your condition as one to which salvation by grace is perfectly adapted. If you could see these trials with spiritual eyes and understand that they are appointed by God’s wisdom and love for your good, you might even thank God for the valleys, the mountains, the crooks, and the thorns in your path.

These challenges are what send you to the throne of grace, urging you to seek the Lord’s presence and his love in your heart. We all desire ease, a smooth path. We’d like to be carried to heaven in comfort, enjoying every blessing along the way, and then die peacefully without any pain or trial. But that’s not God’s way. The word of truth, the sufferings of Christ, and the experience of the saints all testify against the easy path. Instead, they affirm that the path to life is narrow and difficult, and it’s marked by suffering and sorrow.