but those of blameless ways are his delight. NRSV
A few years back, my aunt and uncle took my son and me on a day trip to San Francisco. Because my son had never been, my aunt enjoyed driving her big luxury car down Lombard Street. Now, if you’ve never been to San Francisco, there are some things you should know. First, this is a city built on hills, very steep hills. Many of the streets in town are very, very steep. (I’m not fond of heights, so stopping at a stop light where my car is at a 45 degree angle isn’t my idea of fun!). Lombard Street, however, was built differently. This street is a switch-back built right in the middle of town, a very narrow street with houses built right to the sidewalk. One misstep (or one failure to have your foot on th brakes) will end you up in someone’s living room. So, when you drive down Lombard, you go back and forth, back and forth (almost dizzily) until you reach the bottom.
(There’s a great picture of this street here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lombard_Street_(San_Francisco)
Now while a street isn’t sinful (in itself), my experience of riding down Lombard Street was brought to mind when I read this passage in Proverbs: “crooked minds.” This scripture tells us that “crooked minds are an abomination to the Lord.” Well, what’s a crooked mind?
Matthew Henry writes:
“That nothing is more offensive to God than hypocrisy and double-dealing, for these are signified by the word which we translate frowardness, pretending justice, but intending wrong, walking in crooked ways, to avoid discovery. Those are of a froward heart who act in contradiction to that which is good, under a profession of that which is good, and such are, more than any sinners, an abomination to the Lord . . .”
You know, as much as we don’t want to admit it, we are sometimes froward, that is, we say or do things to manipulate others so that our ends are met, but we are not wholly honest and forthright with them about our motivations. In other words, we sometimes try to back others into a corner so that they will do what we want them to do, rather than allowing them the freedom to make their own choices and our trusting the Lord to work it all out in the end.
We manipulate. We walk in crooked ways. We seem like we’re going in one direction when, in actuality, we are going in another. Just like going down Lombard Street, going left and right, when actually we are going down. You know, I think we manipulate because we don’t trust God. Plain and simple. If we did trust Him, we would take our hands off the reins of our lives (and the reins of others) and allow God to work everything out for our good as He has promised (Romans 8:28). Instead, I think our fear often rises up and we try to control everything around us . . . circumstances, people, outcomes. And in doing that, we often become crooked, seeming to go one way when we actually want to go another.
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29 NRSV).
These words from Jesus, I think, are about trusting Him rather than going our own way. This yoke was a double-yoke used to train young oxen in the discipline of pulling loads. The farmer would hook an experienced ox to an inexperienced one and, in that way, the young ox would learn how to pull a wagon or load. When we take Jesus’ yoke upon ourselves, we hook ourselves to Him and follow Him. We learn from Him obedience to the Father and in doing this, we find rest for our souls!
The rest, the peace we so desperately seek in our efforts to control everything around us is actually found when we let go and allow Father God to work things out for our good, when we stop being crooked and begin living blameless lives in obedience to His word.
© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).
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