Posted on 08/22/2009 9:28:05 AM PDT by Charles Henrickson
“God Will Bless the Road Ahead” (Isaiah 43:19)
Dear friends and family of David and Shawna, dear friends in Christ. Today, David and Shawna, you asked to have played a song that is very special to you, “Bless the Broken Road.” The refrain of that song says, “God blessed the broken road that led me straight to you.” Today I want to talk about not only how God did indeed bless that broken road, I also want you to see, as you two embark on a new journey together, how “God Will Bless the Road Ahead.”
“God blessed the broken road.” Yes, he did. It’s important to acknowledge that at the outset. Even though our road has been broken, often through our own doing, God still can and does bring blessing out of it.
The brokenness of our road is due to sin--sin in general in this fallen world, sin in particular in our own lives. The world is a messed-up place. The smooth road, the path of peace our Creator set out for us--we have put obstacles in that road. The rebellious world in which we live has let the sure footing of God’s ways crumble. The world would send us down roads that may look inviting but really are dead ends. We see that and we hear that in the messages our culture sends us. Marriage is under attack from all sides, in the approval that society gives to things like: homosexual marriage, which is really an impossibility; adultery; divorce; living together outside of marriage; pornography; promiscuity. The world, increasingly so, says that these things are all right. God’s word says they are not, that they are, in fact, sin--sin that hurts the human community and merits God’s judgment and condemnation. And the problem is, we let the world whisper in our ear and influence our thinking and behavior. This is what causes our road to be broken, whether directly or indirectly, whether we suffer as a result of the chaos around us or whether we contribute to that chaos by our own bad choices. We, all of us here, must confess the brokenness of our road, and our part in it.
But in spite of that, even though we have strayed and stumbled, nevertheless God in his grace does bless our broken road. His mercies are new every morning; great is his faithfulness. God sends his rain-showers of blessing upon both the just and the unjust--and that includes us, the justified, even when we have been walking in unrighteous ways.
Today we celebrate the great blessing that God is bestowing on David and Shawna in the gift of marriage. God has brought them together, and he has brought them to this altar, to bestow his blessing upon their marriage. How we thank God for this! How we pray his further blessing upon you two! And we know that he will do it, because we know who this God is, and how he acts, and how he loves to bestow blessing upon his children.
And so we know, we are confident, that God will bless the road ahead. Listen to this wonderful verse from Isaiah, a promise for you today. The Lord God says:
Behold, I will do a new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
I will even make a road in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert.
Now originally God spoke this word for his people in exile in Babylon, his people who were suffering, who had walked a broken road of their own making, and now were off in a far country, far from home. But the Lord gives them this word of promise and encouragement, telling them that he is preparing a new road for them, a way for them to return home and return to him--a new road, a road of blessing, for the new journey ahead of them.
And so I think this passage applies here today, as a promise for you, David and Shawna--and really, a promise for all of us here. As we set out as God’s people, as God’s children, on whatever paths the Lord may have for our lives, we can know that God will be with us, blessing our journey. “Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
How can we be so sure? Because of one who walked a road for us, a road we would not want to take. And that of course is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who walked the broken road of suffering, under God’s judgment, for us. The holy Son of God, come down from heaven, went the way of the cross for our sake, for our sins. All our rebellion, all our brokenness, all our wrong choices, he piled onto his own back and carried that heavy burden we could not bear. It took the form of a cross. Jesus walked the Way of Sorrows, the Via Dolorosa, on his way out to Calvary on that Good Friday. There he suffered and died and shed his holy blood to redeem a world of sinners, including you and me. This is how he won forgiveness for us, and righteousness before God, and a new and eternal life. The proof is in his resurrection on Easter morning. Now, as God’s baptized children, we have a new road to walk on, a new road that leads straight to heaven. Jesus leads the way for us--indeed, he says, “I am the way, and the truth and the life.” Jesus leads the way for us, and he says, to each one of us, “Come, follow me.”
So there it is, David and Shawna. There is the road that God will bless ahead of you. It is the “following-Jesus road,” the way of discipleship, following our Lord Jesus Christ in faith. That means listening to his voice constantly, hearing and receiving his word of forgiveness, the gospel preached and taught in God’s house--and in your own home too, as God’s word has its way in your family. There is the path for your marriage to follow; there is the right road to walk in for your family. God will richly bless you, and give you strength to keep going through the hard times, and give you the love and forgiveness you will need for one another.
David and Shawna, this much I know is true: That God will bless the road ahead that he has in store for you.
Ping.
It's fun to be in the E.L.C.A.
It's fun to be in the E.L.C.A.
We have women in black,
Now there's no turning back
To the hang-ups of dead white guys.
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