My second "life verse"

The other verse I chose as a guidepost to follow back in the days when I was a young therapist and found it to be a good personal verse as a Christian was Isaiah 40 3-5. A voice of one calling: In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level and the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it.

Now this verse is a prophetic verse symbolizing the role of John the Baptist. I think that in the text the mountains, valleys, rough places etc. signify the Law. John, by baptizing people signifies cleansing from the guilt given by the Law, and burying them, for death is the penalty for breaking the Law. By cleansing and by death, the Law is no longer a barrier keeping us from God. This is all symbolic and preparation for Christ and His work. This is all theological stuff I know, and I want to get to the practical so here is how I apply it.


In life there are so many barriers that keep people from knowing God and coming to a true place of healing. For some it is still The Law and trying to follow it. For others it is being hurt and scarred by family that distorts our image of God and who He is. For some it is being hurt or scarred by the church itself, which is suppose to be representative of God here on earth doing his work. These barriers, valleys, mountains need to addressed and removed for healing to begin
In my graduate school, since it was a Christian program, we discussed whether it was ethical for Christians to be counselors and therapists. Some brought up the issue that by removing “symptoms” we did not allow people to hit the point where they called out to God. For example, by giving people skills to deal with anxiety we are not allowing them to face the true source of their anxiety and come to God for true healing.
I don’t believe this to be the case. I think our purpose, not only those who are in a healing profession, but as Christians in general, is to smooth the rough places, to clear a path. We cannot save. That is not in our power. But we can remove obstacles. And that is what I want my life to be about. Now, it grieves me more than anything to see the church itself, or those that claim to be God’s servants, creating the obstacles. When I hear about the sexual abuse scandals from the Catholic church (and I know it goes on in other denominations as well) I think about not only the psychological but spiritual damage done. I wonder how this must hinder ones perception of God and prevent them from knowing Him. The other night I watched the second Dateline investigation on The Benny Hinn ministry. I missed their first show in which they tried to find documented proof of the healings that go on and could find none. But the show I watched talked about how Benny Hinn uses his well orchestrated and choreographed show to bring in money with which to lead a very lavish lifestyle. I personally don’t care how he lives. I care about the naive or desperate people who give their money to that ministry, hoping to purchase a miracle, hoping for some healing, or believing that they are helping others to receive healing. There are obstacles being put up for them. There are obstacles being put up for the people who go for healing, told they received it, and then find out from their doctors that it just isn’t true. Do they question God? Do they question their own faith and relationship with him? Do they question whether He cares about them? And think of the obstacles put up for people in general watching this investigation. Some of them watch this kind of documentary and look upon Christianity in disgust, thinking this is how simple-minded Christians are. The obstacles are everywhere. And I think we are all, if we claim to be followers of Christ are called to do what we can to level a path; create a clearing for Christ to come and do the reparative and reconciling work that only He can do.