The level path of the good man.
This verse would better read, "The way of the just is evenness; thou, most upright, dost make even the path of the just." This suggests the two topics—
I. THE PREVAILING FEATURE OF THE GOOD MAN'S CONDUCT—EVENNESS. The idea of the word may be expressed in New Testament language as "patient continuance in well-doing." The triumph of the good man's life is steady walking, never running, and never dragging, in the way of righteousness. Evenness may suggest "rectitude"—the ruling of all conduct and relations by the sensitiveness to that which is right and kind. Or it may suggest "consistency"—a shaping of all actions into the harmony of godly principles. Or it may suggest the correction of the varying experience, now of mountain heights of emotion, and now of dark valleys of depression; the good man learns to prefer the level road. Or it may suggest the quietness of the good man's life. It flows on like the smooth river, that never roars in flood, always breathing out its blessing, always singing its low sweet song, always moving on to the ocean of God. But to describe any man's life as evenness reminds us at once that evenness is something won; it is not sinful man's natural state, it is a triumph out of struggle. The man who gains it at last must have known much leveling of mountains, raising of valleys, and making rough places plain. This may be illustrated by the labor and skill demanded in the making of a good plain level road through a country of hills and marshes. Compare Bunyan's figure of the varied pilgrim-path of "Christian." Many of us can only say, "Our path should be level, and we wish it were."
II. THE AID WHICH GOD GIVES TOWARDS MAINTAINING THIS FEATURE. We might have said, gaining and maintaining it; for only through grace can we win the true consistency of goodness, or continue in it. Isaiah comforts good people with the assurance that God is ever "making even" their path; working with them, and working through them, to this good end. He removes stumbling-blocks which are too big for them. It reveals to them the things that make their way uneven. He maintains within them the desire for righteousness. He guides every practical endeavor after goodness and charity. He makes the "plain path for our feet." If any man would be holding fast his integrity, he may be sure that God's hard is upon his hand.—R.T.