The Life Giving Way

Some things in plain view are sometimes hard to see. And then again, sometimes the thing for which we look are obscured by a lot of clutter.  When Jeremiah spoke for the Lord and told the people to "Stand at the crossroads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths..."  it might have been that the stories told from the past had fallen on deaf ears for too many generations.  While the Hebrew story is one rich in oral tradition, it would seem from the conditions Jeremiah described that the people were no longer actively remembering their history of deliverance from Egypt and their life in the Promised Land with God.    

These ancient ways so rich in tradition and so full of life giving power often become as invisible as a road that disappears in a heavy thick morning fog.  But, what is more likely to happen is that newer ideas and values have appeared around us with such enticing power that it seems wiser to us to ignore what is past for what is both contemporary and trendy.  As children we learn to excuse wrong choices with the words, "everybody's doing it" which, of course, our parents were never too keen about us accepting.    

Today what everyone is doing and believing often holds such sway that no one looks for the values of the ancient paths.  It may take some effort to throw off the shackles of new ways that lead us down paths no one would have chosen a couple of generations ago.  Many things are changing around us.  Such is the nature of life, however, a change that takes us away from the intentions of God as they are revealed to us through the Word is something from which we need to run.  But, before we set out to run away from a way that is taking us away from life giving values, we need to pause and look and maybe even ask about the life giving way that God has laid out for us to see.  It is not something we want to miss.