Jo Bower's Blog

A Portuguese proverb is:
God writes straight with crooked lines.
The context in which I encountered it applied it to the cycle of
Obedience, God’s goodness, sinning, punishment, repentance, and God’s forgiveness
Strewn throughout the ancient Israelites’ history.

It seems to me to illustrate the way God works with all humanity.
Someone once popped up in discussion of God’s will and said:
If I knew what God wanted, I could help Him get it done.
That’s the straight line we want: from here straight to God’s presence in heaven.
And I envy those leaders who have always seemed to know what is required.

Yet I suspect the straight road to God is most always crooked.
I start out with God, and do what I see God has put in front of me.
And I feel that is what I’ve been called to.
And all at once, God opens another opportunity.
And the straight line has a wide curve in it as I follow.

And then another opportunity puts another kink in the not-so-straight line.
Always heading toward God, it becomes okay that is no long a straight shot.
Always turning, twisting, always dynamic, as I grow and mature.
Sometimes it’s my fault as I get in God’s way, I get distracted by so much,
And sometimes God has specific things for me to do, things for me to learn.

I learn even those among us who have always known God’s best for them,
Who seem to single-mindedly understand God’s road for them,
Don’t follow a completely straight line – it just looks like it from my point of view.
God’s work among us leads straight to Him.
But each of us has a different, winding, adventurous, individually formed line to follow.

God writes straight with crooked lines.

(Discipline 2011 – Nov 7, 2011. Published by The Upper Room )
Judges 4:1-7