[AI translation] As I was preparing to preach this sermon in the pastor's office, my eyes fell on the new calendar on the desk. There it was, fresh, new, untouched, with the big inscription on the front: 1960. I looked at it thoughtfully and thought: well, this is the new year that has come! What will be revealed in it that is still hidden from us! What will happen when I tear the pages off one by one?... So untouched, so full of mystery, this new year! Then I thought, that's the way! Wouldn't it be good to look into the days and hours of the New Year, to know in advance what will happen then and there... Nor would I like to, nor can I appeal to the mysteries of the future. "The secrets belong to the Lord our God," says the Scripture, and that's good! If I could make a wish for myself and for you for the new year, I would not wish to see what is coming, but that whatever comes, we would walk on that certain straight path, the straight path prepared by the Lord, so that we could go forward, onwards, in all kinds of situations and in all kinds of events. And we may well desire it, we may well require it, for it is promised, "The path of the righteous is straight; straight you prepare the way of the righteous."In fact, all our care, all our toil and all our work is directed to making the path of life straight for ourselves and our loved ones. That is why we work, struggle and spend, so that the path we walk, our families, our people and the whole of humanity may live on it, may be as smooth as possible! If difficulties then arise - if the depths of sorrow and the heights of trouble make the road beneath our feet potholed and uneven - or if someone or something blocks our way, prevents us from going on: then we work with even greater vigour, trying to fill in the potholes, to remove the hills, to clear the way so that it becomes as easy as possible to walk again. To make life bearable, and as pleasant and beautiful as possible! But that is not always possible. In some ways, yes... Because, for example, a lot can be achieved with money. With a lot of money, a lot can be improved along the way. And then, for example, the many sophisticated forms of the entertainment industry can sometimes help you through the depths of bad moods, fatigue and boredom. Medicines, too, thanks to the progress of science, now solve a great many problems. International conferences and meetings can also do a great deal, and this is indeed extremely important and necessary for the constant straightening of the path of humanity as a whole.
But there are other kinds of problems which often make that path bumpy, difficult, even impassable! There are, for example, depths of sorrow that money or consolation cannot fill. There are wounds and pains that cannot be soothed or healed even with the most modern medicines. There are tears that human love cannot dry up. There are stains that cannot be cleaned by lye or hypo. Sometimes sin grows such heights, omissions such mountains in our path, that we feel there is no more to be done, not even time can wear it away... It seems, then, that the straight path is beyond man's power! It is beyond our strength! Neither the highest position, nor the most fabulous wealth, nor the greatest science, nor the most perfect artistic sense is enough to guarantee that your life's path will be straight, free of potholes, pitfalls, deceptive curves! Yet, lo and behold, all your efforts are directed towards this. There must be some other secret to that straight path! Indeed, God alone has the power to make one's way so! Thus saith the prophet, "Thou, Lord, preparest the way of the righteous upright!"
So God! He, He alone is the secret of that certain straight path of life! And let us grasp this with very strong faith, for it is the only certainty in all the uncertainty of the future before us: God! So it is not chance. It is not by chance that one's life takes this or that course, it is not as Frederick the Great once said: the Chance of His Majesty is so great that he can confuse even the affairs of kings... There are those who do not speak of chance as such a great power, but of fate; but in essence they mean the same thing. How many times have I heard someone who did not turn out the way they wanted, say: 'It's my fate, I can't help it'. Is it himself? Surely much depends on one's own decision, one's own choice, but perhaps even more does not! Some people say with resignation: let what must come, come! Well, but how do we understand this? Does it mean that the course of one's life is already predetermined, that human life has a certain script, like a film? Yes, in film the end is already certain when the first scenes are shot. But is our life like that? Really, who, or what, determines the course of life? Is it more understandable to say that it is fate, chance?
Well, that is why I want to emphasize so strongly from our Word the statement that God prepares the way! Not a concept of God, not a concept of God, not a world or life view, but God! God Himself as a reality experienced in and over your life! The God who tirelessly seeks to meet everyone at all times. The God who put His heart out for us in that newborn baby in Bethlehem, who gave birth to His love for us as human beings in this world, so that we might know Him, see who He is and what He wants. The God who became manifest through the person, death and resurrection of Jesus: He is the one who prepares the way of our life! But not in the way of a film director who has to stick to the script, nor in the way of a puppet theatre director who pulls the strings of the actors' hands and feet from above - no! We are his children, who have the free will to decide for him and even against him. That is why we cannot make predictions about the future, because the future is not something that is prepared in advance, but is prepared and continually prepared every day by God's love, according to our personal relationship with Him! The great thing about it is that we are not dependent on cold, impersonal powers such as chance or fate, but I can entrust everything, the whole new year, my whole life to the living God, the God of whom I can be certain, if nothing else, that He loves me! So you can look forward with hope, you can face the uncertainties of the future, if you confess from your heart what the prophet said, "You, Lord, prepare the way of the righteous."
The way of the just! Twice our Word emphasizes that the path of the righteous man is made straight by the providential love of God. So the crucial question is: are you righteous? It is not a question of whether you are a good person, or a friendly, kind... You may be looked up to by many, loved and respected by many. You may be a very devoted mother, a faithful spouse, a devoted friend, a grateful child of your parents... But even all of this does not mean that you are a "real person"! What the Bible says is "righteous" is something deeper than goodness and faithfulness and lovingkindness. It expresses man's deepest relationship with God. It means something that one's inner life is perfectly right with God, that one is pure before God. But is there such a thing? Yes. It does exist! Not, of course, as the result of one's own efforts, as something that one acquires for oneself in some way, but only as a gift, as something that God gives to someone, as a mother does when she takes her useless child, kisses him and says: "Now everything is all right again because... because... I love you!" So, the righteous man is above all a man submitted to God, a repentant man, a humble man, a man of grace! Or, as someone says: the righteous man is a man with two bent knees, two joined hands - and a Saviour! For it is for Him, for Jesus, for His merit, that God looks upon us as righteous men! That's why you can be a righteous man!
Well, then: the path of such a righteous man is straight, the path of such a righteous man God makes straight. This does not mean that such a man always succeeds, or that he never suffers trouble, suffering or disappointment, or that his days are full of joy, health and prosperity - oh, no! That certain "straight path" which is here spoken of is more and more beautiful than success, health, and such goods. It is something that remains even in adversity, even in sorrow, even in despondency. It is that special something which the Scriptures elsewhere call 'blessing', and indeed it is only this that can make our lives truly happy. Prosperity, success, health, a good job, a good salary - if it does not have that invisible, mysterious something: the blessing of God, it does not make us happy! Have you ever walked into a beautiful house, for example, full of riches, luxury, furniture and people, and yet you feel that something is missing? What is it? A blessing! The blessing of God! And vice versa: so-called destitute people in modest, even poor circumstances, living hard, and yet - inexplicably - even in their deprivation, even in their sorrow, perhaps, the blessing is there! And that is worth more than all the other treasures in the world. "The path of the righteous man is straight - in spite of every problem, every difficulty, every obstacle - You, Lord, You make straight the path of the righteous." - Would that it were so, for so could the year 1960 be for us!
To conclude, just one more thing. I once saw a friend of mine in a car take his four year old son in his lap and the little boy with a beaming face took the wheel, pretending to drive the car. Meanwhile, his father put his hand on the child's hand and they drove on. The child exclaimed in rapture, "Aren't we going well!" A child of God. And that is what we need. We need the Father to lay his hand on ours, because only in this way can we travel safely, enjoy the journey, be at peace, avoid dangers, precipices, detours, and reach the place we are striving for: home! And that is: on the straight road! The straightest way!
Ask again today and every day: "Father, put your hand on mine and guide my life!" You may not turn in the direction you would like, but one thing is certain: you are going straight ahead, towards eternity!
Amen!
Date: 1 January 1960 New Year's Day
Lesson
Ézs 40,27-31