Thus saith the LORD, “Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls…” (Jeremiah 6:16).
How timely is this advice for our day!
In this text, the prophet, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, beautifully draws a metaphor out of the culture of his times. It is a scene most commonplace in his day. The image is that of a man traveling on foot down an unfamiliar road in an unknown territory when he comes to a crossroads. At the crossroads there should be a sign to indicate the various destinations, but the sign is gone. Much like our own day, the sign has either been trodden down or torn down by vandals. As he approaches the intersection with this dilemma, the Spirit, through the prophet, gives plain and sober advice—in a simple four-step formula. (I use that expression because it seems every thing in today’s society needs a “stepped” formula.)
So then—
Step 1: STOP. Let me say it again—STOP. In the words of the prophet: “Stand ye in the ways.” Don’t just keep rushing on without certain clarity for direction. To do so will likely be disastrous. Just stop.
I remember (painfully) when our family served in Ireland as missionaries. How often we were lost on those endless little Irish roads with signposts written in Gaelic. I would blast through intersection after intersection with my wife earnestly pleading for me to “stop and give her time to figure out where we were going.” I once almost drove us right off into the ocean in my stubborn determination to just keep going!
What timely advice this is to us. In our day there seems to be an almost universal spirit of unsettledness in which the “madding crowd” demands movement. The cry is: “Let’s keep moving! Change…change…change! Everything old must change! Let us go forward and never look backward!” Alas, this ill-advised spirit of our age has become the spirit of our churches as well. It seems the only thing that cannot change is the constant cry for change. Most of the churches I see would be greatly help if they would just STOP—“Stand still…stand ye in the ways” and study the rest of Jeremiah’s instruction.
Step 2: SEE. Again, using the metaphor of the traveler in unfamiliar territory, the prophet advises to take the time to look—take a hard look around. Rushing blindly into a path without calculated consideration of its direction would be foolish at best and fatal at worst. And yet, that is exactly the tone in many of our churches today. Every notion and novelty that breaks on the ecclesiastical horizon in this generation is gobbled up with insatiable appetite without the slightest reflection—not even on history, far less the Scripture. In today’s churches it seems that every fool willing to “think outside the box” will find an eager and enthusiastic market—whether in the form of a book, a video, or a blog!
The prophet here would advise most sternly, “Take a hard look.” Just because one finds a huge evangelical market for these trifles, that’s no proof of their soundness. In fact, it may be strong evidence against them, considering the shallowness and carnality of current evangelicalism.
Step 3: ASK. Now, there’s a novel idea in our day! Ask for advice.
Again, Jeremiah uses the metaphor of the traveler. He’s at a crossroads. He sees no clear signage. He looks around, but he’s still not completely sure of his direction. Ask! Don’t be a fool—ask!
But ask whom? Another traveler like yourself? Not a great idea.
That seems to be the trend in this hour of weak church life. The current recipe for spiritual growth seems to be to buy some other “traveler’s” book and hold a weekly rap session at the coffeehouse to “share our feelings.” These “interactive fellowships” are nothing more than a pooling of ignorance and result in nothing higher than a putrid exchange of existential folly!
Here’s an idea—let’s ask the Lord of the Road. Let’s go back to the Book. Jeremiah, after all, had just warned Israel in the boldest terms against false prophets. Israel must turn back to the Law. So must we. Why should we trust anything less than the inspired Word? And this means not just a casual or superficial reading, but a diligent search… to “study…” “line upon line…” “to show thyself approved…” a “WORKman” in the Word.
Let me suggest another source to “ask.” Ask another traveler. Not one like ourselves, but one whose age and experience could chart the road from memory and whose walk could retrace the journey even in the darkest of night. Our libraries are full of them. Their biographies, their commentaries, their sermons and tracts, their textbooks, and their life-long labors fill the shelves of time. Ask, if you dare.
And what is it we are asking for? “The Old Paths”
There you have it. This is what modern men, even modern Christians, don’t want—an old path. Why is it that no right-thinking person wants to test-drive the first prototype vehicle or fly the first prototype aircraft, yet modern Christians can’t wait to jump headlong into every novel impulse of doctrine or practice that springs out on the scene of religious life—even to their soul’s peril? It is the spirit of the age. But let us be warned from this text, it is only in the “old paths” that you will “find rest to your souls.”
STOP…
SEE…
ASK…
And finally, WALK in them. Suffer no delay; abide no compromise. Like Bunyan’s immortal Pilgrim of old, stop up your ears against the world’s loud clamor and “Walk” in the old paths to Zion. The old paths are not good just because they’re old. They’re not even good just because they’re well-worn. They’re good because they lead to the right destination. They’re well-worn because they’ve been traveled by the righteous for ages.
In this new generation, let us hold fast to the “old” and proven paths of our fathers. These are the paths of peace.
Dr. John Suttles
7/2011 |
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