Grace Isn’t Linear

Have you ever noticed that there are rarely straight lines in nature? Look around at the world God has made—the trees, the rivers, the hills. None of them grow or flow in perfectly straight lines. The branches of a tree twist and turn. The course of a river winds through the land. Mountains rise unevenly, each with its own shape. There is beauty everywhere, but not straight lines.

Straight lines are a human abstraction. We invented them. We use them to build roads and walls, cities and skyscrapers. We love order, predictability, and efficiency. And for good reason, these things help us live and work. But God, the Creator of the universe, paints with a different brush. His handiwork is full of curves, meanders, slopes, and spirals. His way of shaping the world is not always linear, and neither is His way of shaping our lives.

We often expect our lives to follow a straight line: goal after goal, step after step, without detours. We think: if I work hard, if I pray enough, if I do the right things, then everything should fall into place in a clear and direct way. But that’s rarely how God moves. His guidance often leads us through turns we didn’t expect and bends we don’t always understand.

Scripture says: “Who can straighten what God has made crooked?” (Ecclesiastes 7:13). Sometimes the path bends, not because it’s broken, but because God shaped it that way for a reason. The detour you’re on might be protecting you from something unseen. The delay you're experiencing might be preparing you for something greater. The crooked road may be the one that leads you straight into God’s purpose.

Some of you may be feeling that right now. Maybe your plans haven’t gone as you hoped. Maybe things are uncertain at home or confusing in your friendships. Maybe the path you’re on feels more like a zigzag than a straight line.

Friends, if your plans have shifted, or your path feels uncertain, don’t lose heart. The tree doesn’t grow straight, but it still reaches toward the sky. The river doesn’t run straight, but it still finds the sea. And your journey, even with its twists and turns, is still held in the hands of the One who made the mountains, the valleys, and you.