. Psalm 19:8 says, “The precepts of the Lord are right.” The Hebrew word for right is “ya?sha?r,” and this word means to be straight and upright. Literally, God's Word is level, straight, and not one bit off. There is nothing wrong with the Bible - not one thing. [5] With time in His Word, we can walk a more level, straight, and upright path. But without time alone with Him in the Bible, we veer off, we lose our course. We are not able to stay on the straight and the level path. Isaiah 26:7 (HCSB) tells us that, “The path of the righteous is level; You clear a straight path for the righteous.” In Psalms 27:11 (HCSB) we read, “Because of my adversaries, show me Your way, Lord, and lead me on a level path.”
To illustrate this principle, I think of wall papering. Have you ever tried to hang wall paper in a room in your home or office? Have you tried to make it perfectly straight and level? I remember a time early in our marriage when my gracious husband offered to hang wallpaper in our little half-bath. The room had only a mirror, a toilet, and a pedestal sink. It was a very small room.
We chose the perfect pattern, measured the room, purchased all of the correct materials and wallpaper tools, and began the project. I tried to help, but the bathroom was only big enough for one person to be in it at a time. So, he ended up doing the bulk of the work.
When he had finished hanging all of the paper and the border, he came out shaking his head. He warned me that although he had measured all of the walls carefully, the paper was hanging a bit crooked. I went in the little bathroom to take a look and immediately noticed what he was talking about. Our new wallpaper looked great, but it was not perfectly level.
As we looked a little closer, we realized that the problem wasn't our tools or a lack of careful planning. Instead, our ceiling and our framing were not level making the wallpaper crooked as well. He had measured by the ceiling expecting it to be the perfect guide, but it was not quite right.
In our spiritual lives, we need a perfect guide, a straight “ceiling” by which to hang up the wallpaper of our lives. If our guide is not straight, level, and upright, our lives will not be either. When we measure our lives by the perfect and straight Word of God, we will be able to hang things more accurately.
Think about this for a minute…