Not a last resort

And it will be said, “Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstacle out of the way of My people.” For thus says the high and exalted One who lives forever, whose name is Holy “I dwell on a high and holy place, and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit in order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. “For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry; For the spirit would grow faint before Me, and the breath of those whom I have made. Isaiah 57:14-16 NASB

Pride is a sin that God resists. From the text, God will always open a way for us to realize our need of Him and to come to Him. In fact, He even asserts that obstacles will be removed “out of the way of My people.” The way to God to have a relationship with Him through Jesus Christ is open. The hang-up is not with Him but in our unbelief. This takes place when we treat God as a last resort or a dead-end rather than our goal. We are the ones slow in acknowledging our need of Him. Despite this, He keeps the way back to Him free from any hindrance. He is in a place where He is waiting for those who are “contrite and lowly of spirit.” The way to God is through humility and repentance. The world’s way to be accepted by others is to move up in the ladder of success. But that is not God’s way. Mobility towards God is downward not because God is uncomfortable dwelling in “high and holy place.” He wants us to be in a place where we will be open to Him. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). It will not be detrimental to us if we lower ourselves before God; it is freeing for that is where we become open to God’s truth and prepares us to receive the life that comes from Him. “More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ” (Philippians 3:8-9).

Blessings,