THE OLD PATHS

What memories draw you to the past most often?  Maybe they are memories of playing out in the yard during long summer evenings until the dusk gradually casts its shadow over the earth.  Sometimes the “good old days” call to us with their simplicity and innocence.  But the truth is things have changed. 

We cannot go back.  We must go forward, even though our world seems to have darkened with sin considerably.  The dusk of iniquity has cast its shadow over much of the earth, but there is still light for those who want to see.

Everything changes with time…our physical characteristics, our circumstances, our abilities, our relationships.  Everything but God.  He never changes.  His characteristics, power, ability, knowledge and His principles never change.  They stay the same forever.  He invites us to enter His timeless, unchanging world – the Kingdom of God.  The principles of His Kingdom never change, because they are truth.  To change even the tiniest iota would turn them into something false, artificial and dishonest.  

The fact that His principles never change may seem to suggest they are archaic or at best slightly outdated.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  They are as relevant now as they ever were.  They still result in blessing, freedom, wisdom and light.

Look at the words of Jeremiah 6:16:  “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. But they said, We will not walk therein.”

“The old paths” are not a reference to the customs of our parents’ or grandparents’ era.  They are the paths of God’s ways that have not been infiltrated with the concepts and traditions of any era or culture.  Every generation has its own ideas of right and wrong or even if there actually is right and wrong.  All have discovered some amount of truth and accepted a tremendous amount of error. 

God’s Kingdom remains the same from generation to generation, because it is the place where God’s rule is supreme and truth reigns untainted by human error.  We can know truth and live in the freedom of it no matter what our physical surroundings.  God’s Word is truth, and it will lead us to light that never dims.

We can debate it, but we cannot change it.  We can disagree with it, but we cannot cause it to vary in the slightest.  We can lead a rebellion against it, but it will not move.  We can choose to live outside God’s truth in the darkness of human reasoning, but God’s truth still remains the same.  It will not adjust to accommodate our opinions or our weaknesses.  We can present it as something other than it is and believe what we teach, but we will still be accountable to God according to the light of His truth, not by the shadowy areas of our reasoning.

Proverbs 22:28 says, “Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.”  These landmarks were established to show the boundary lines for properties.  If there was ever a dispute where someone’s property started and ended, the landmark was the deciding factor.

Truth is the boundary marker of God’s Kingdom.  It has been established as the deciding factor or the basis of judgment.  We are held accountable by the original marker whether or not we are in agreement with where it stands.  God’s boundaries cannot be changed.  Trying to change the Word of God to suit our culture or the “American Dream” will not be accepted in the end. 

So, God calls us to walk with Him in the old paths, the paths of truth and light.  He calls us from the other paths that are leading us to destruction, but few choose to listen and follow.

In Malachi 3:6-7, God speaks to His people who have changed paths searching for something they will never find.  His lovingkindness has kept them from being consumed by their foolishness.  He continues to call them to come to Him.  “For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.  Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?”  And so they refused.

How long will we refuse the old paths and follow our own reasoning?  How long will we ignore the call of God to walk in truth? 

Who among us is wise enough to take the high road and walk in the old paths?