This children’s rhyme is often associated with a funny figure of a bent and crooked man. Let’s pause and look at this a bit closer. There are often profound teachings we get from children’s books of nursery rhymes, there are sometimes deeper meanings behind the scene.
How many of us remember the crooked man we used to read about ?
BY MOTHER GOOSE
There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile;
He bought a crooked cat which caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together in a little crooked house.
He was a strange chap don’t you think? He was very crooked, and everything around him was crooked. He lives in a crooked house with a crooked cat. Why do you think he did that? “Do you suppose it was because he was so crooked himself.”?
Well, that’s right.
Do you know we are all much the same, we have wicked hearts, we all love things that are wicked, walk the crooked paths in this life, just as the crooked man?
God wants us to walk a path that is straight, but you know, we are not able to walk that path in our current state, are we?
A crooked man is not able to walk a straight path until he is straightened out. If we want to walk on the straight and narrow path that God wants us to walk, we need to have a change of heart. And only God is able to straighten that crooked man out. No doctor is able to help — this man is so crooked that only God can straighten him.
Because, as you know, we all have sinful hearts. There is no doctor or anyone in this world that can make them clean. It is not something we can do on our own. There is only one way, through God. He does this by washing all through the Blood of Jesus Christ, who died, was raised from the dead and ascended to Heaven and is seated at the right hand of God.
Open your heart to Jesus and ask Him to straighten out your life and make your heart clean, because He is the only one that is able to do this for you.
The Bible says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” Acts 16:31.
There is so much more but, knowing that our sins are forgiven has more value than all the gold in the world.
Reading Ecclesiastes 7:13: (“Consider the work of God: who can make straight what He has made crooked?”) has helped me put some things into perspective. Look at it like this, the outcomes of our life are not in our control, but by faith we know that whatever in our life is “crooked”, God allowed it for our good and His glory.
I have been struggling with a problem that needs “straightening out.” No matter how careful I have been some things have just gone “crooked” and therefore life has not been easy. It has hurt and been frustrating, and a bit discouraging.
This biblical exhortation gave me a new perspective and helped tremendously. Lord, thank you.
There are many situations that we constantly face where everything just seems “crooked”. We like things to be “straight”, it might be some illness, a broken relationship, a difficult boss, our job is boring, or rebellious children. The circumstance does not matter, as long as we remember that with God all things can be made straight, He might not choose to, that’s Okay, whatever it is, His will for our good and His glory.
Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Yes, it is true that He can set things right. He can bring healing, sort out the boss, give you a different job. Ecclesiastes teaches us that we can rest in the sovereignty of God’s grace. This article is not about being passive with what is “crooked”. We must reject any false impressions, like the man who fell down stairs and said “Thank God that is over”. We should rather pay attention where we put our feet…
(Continued in Part Two)
Eric Smith