Go Low

In my time with God this morning I received a picture of a smooth wide road with a hedge on the side. The road curved around to the left in front of me, and then to the right, gradually going uphill until it went out of sight behind the bend & the hedge. Next to the road at the point where I was, there was an opening in the hedge, and beyond it a rough trail leading downhill between trees to a fast-flowing river at the bottom. I knew I had a choice whether to drive uphill in a car, or to make my way by foot down to the river.

I immediately recognised it as a representation of the verses from Matt 7:3-14, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.  Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it“
But the picture kept returning to my mind, so I asked God if there was more He wanted to say…

And I felt Him say that the way to life goes low.
When I’ve read those verses from Matthew before I think I’ve imagined the broad path leading downwards to hell and the narrow path leading upwards to heaven. It might seem like semantics: does it really matter what pictures my naive subconscious assumes? But clearly it was important, as God highlighted it this morning. I (and many others besides) had it upside down, imagining the road to life as an uphill path to glory, and the road to destruction as a wide and slippery downhill slope. In some ways I think this can still true, but in oversimplifying it we can be made to stumble.

Because the perspective that God showed me this morning was that the road curving gently upwards was smooth and tarmac-ed over, thanks to those who had gone before. It was going uphill, seeming to promise glorious open views from the top… but it was a deception. The uphill aspect represented our self-effort of trying to climb to glory through our own attempts at holiness (ie religion) – but it would result in us being exalted in our own sight. We might overlook a valley containing the river of life, but we would be too high up and unable to reach it – only able to gaze upon it with longing.
Whereas the path that led to the river of life led downhill over uneven terrain, crowded in by trees with no direct light overhead. This represents the conscious decision to humble ourselves and willingly take an isolated, dark path: to embrace hardship, become weak and vulnerable, and reject the path to glory that others take… purely to pursue the river of life (in Jesus).
For at the bottom of the trail was easy access to the river where one could jump right in and experience the freedom of flowing waters under a wide-open sky.

The narrowness and awkwardness of the path to life is well known. But this morning I felt God point out the folly and danger of imagining ourselves climbing an uphill path as if we could ever make our way to Heaven, even with his help. Because the truth is, the path to eternal life requires us to go low: to be humble and to completely die to self. When we embrace lowness, we find Jesus.