Verse of the Day - Jeremiah 6:16

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 (NIV)

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I read a young reader's edition of Pilgrim's Progress (John Bunyan, 1678) when I was young. I think the metaphoric imagery style really spoke to my writer soul, though it lay dormant for many years. (just paused to find it on the internet...the complete text accessible on-line! http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bunyan/pilgrim.toc.html) (this is going to cause me to re-read this book, now that I'm grown...I'm rather excited, actually!)

The protagonist in the story is named Christian, who reads in his "book" what awaits him and the rest of the world...destruction...and he desperately wants to find a way out...

"I saw also that he looked this way, and that way, as if he would run; yet he stood still because (as I perceived) he could not tell which way to go. I looked then, and saw a man named Evangelist coming to him, and he asked, “Wherefore dost thou cry?”

When the Evangelist tells him which direction to take (follow the light and knock on the gate), he proceeds, but is pursued by a couple of neighbors, Obstinate and Pliable, the former of whom attempts to force him back home, but the latter goes with him. As they walk along, they end up in the Slough of Despond, and Pliable gets frustrated and goes home. Christian is left alone in the slough but gets rescued by a man named Help. And so the journey goes...

Now, turn back to Jeremiah 6...

Flee for safety, people of Benjamin! Flee from Jerusalem! Sound the trumpet in Tekoa! Raise the signal over Beth Hakkerem! For disaster looms out of the north, even terrible destruction. (verse 1)

To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The word of the LORD is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it. (verse 10)

Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when I punish them," says the LORD. (verse 15)

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...
But you said, 'We will not walk in it.' (verse 16)

When Christian tried to tell his family about his distress over reading in his book all that was and would be for the earth, they thought he was crazy and "would not walk in it". And so he journeyed alone.

There comes a time in a person's life when they are forced to look upon their fallen, shattered existence, without hope and without help. When God breaks into their conscience and speaks, He says, Look my way and choose life. Ask Me which way to go. I am the Light of the world...knock on my gate and you will enter.

Open for me the gates of righteousness; I will enter and give thanks to the LORD.
This is the gate of the LORD through which the righteous may enter. I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation. ~ Psalm 118:19-21 (NIV)

I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. ~ Jesus, in John 10:9-10 (NIV)

Everyone has to stand at the crossroads and see which way to go. Only God has the answer, the plan. His name is Jesus. He is "the way, the truth and the life...no one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6).

If you are struggling to walk this path alone, or are still at the crossroads, I urge you to seek after the One who gave His life so that you could walk in His righteousness...so you could walk the path of life.

Love,
Joelene