| This is what the Lord says: ““Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” |
| —Jeremiah 6:16 |
Most of us stop, even momentarily, at the turn of a new year and consider how we would like to make the next 365 days better than the last 365 days. While many people make resolutions—and quickly break them—sometimes when we consider some potential new paths, God leads us to change our intended direction and return to the old paths. No, not the tired, worn out ways of the last year, but the old paths on which God has led His people for centuries.
I can imagine our Lord Jesus standing and looking over our lives in the same way that He looked over the city of Jerusalem and wept. I can see Him weeping over the empty churches and the full sports stadiums. I imagine Him seeing the unopened Bibles that belong to His people, in contrast with the cellular phones full of text messages, photos, and social media posts.
I hear Him saying to me, as well as to His other children, the words Jeremiah used in Lamentations 3:40:
Let us examine our ways and test them and let us return to the Lord.
Isaiah saw God’s people restored to a former way of life and lively worship—the old paths—as recorded in Isaiah 25:10:
The ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads.
What would happen in our lives if we made and kept a promise to get back to regular daily prayer, to regular daily Bible reading, and to regular attendance at Worship Services, costly though keeping these promises may seem to us. Wouldn’t the singing and the everlasting joy, the exuberance and excitement of a new and lively spiritual walk with God be worth it? Wouldn’t the rest for our souls prove life-giving?
A Prayer:
Lord, have we sent You away by ignoring Your written Word? Have we sent You away by too proudly denouncing our need of You? Have we sent You away by making decisions for Your church based on our poor human calculations?
Have we sent You away by cowering before the enemy, when You remain fully available to conquer the evil one? Have we sent You away by neglecting those means of grace, through which You long to abundantly bless us?
O Lord, please return us to You. Please return us to You before we are swept away. In the depths of our hearts, we long for the beauty and delight of the “old paths” that lead us to new growth in You.
For the honor of Your name, we pray. Amen.
