Look for the Ancient Paths, God is Not Progressive
Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths, and where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls; Jeremiah 6:16
(Sorry for the dog 🐕 noises in the background!)
Look for the ancient paths. But what are they? “Ask for the ancient paths…”, and “where the good way is”. “…You will find rest for your souls”. Sounds so good to me. How about you? I think there is a misconception that we only need to ask and look one time and then, voila, we are there! What comes to my mind is an old Christian song I sang in Sunday school as a child. “Day by day, day by day, oh dear Lord three things I pray…”.
Romans 3: 11 says “No one understands; no one seeks for God”.
Yet, seeking Him is where we found rest for our souls. I have heard people say that they did seek and they did not find rest, or answers. My question to you is, how hard did you really seek Him? How long did you wait for Him? Were you impatient? Did you rise up defeated and angry?
Talk to Him. Tell Him how you feel. Tell Him how angry you are. Ask Him to help you understand. Ask Him to remove the fog from your vision and help you to see more clearly. Confess your sins to Him. Sin will blind us. Let Him comfort you and heal you. He will be there for you when no one else is. He understands your weaknesses. He knows all of your desires.
2 Corinthians 12:9 says this… “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me”.
What was that? His power is made perfect in weakness? Absolutely. When you are weak, HE is STRONG. Let God be your strength in times of trouble. Your ever present help.
Psalm 46:1
“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble”.
Coming back to Jeremiah 6:16, what does it mean?
The prophets in that time were prophesying lies by telling the people “peace, peace”. The people were refusing to walk with God and instead embellished their sexual pleasures and covetousness. The end of this path is death and destruction. This immorality will collapse the family unit and the society it lives in. It was time to “look for the ancient paths…”.
God never changes. You cannot edit the word of God to coincide with the progressive mentality of the present age. God is not progressive. The word of God stands. He remains the same. Therefore His word is steady and reliable. The ancient paths are the righteous paths that lead us into rest for our souls.
The Universal Corruption of the Age (608 B.C.) Mathew Henry Commentary link below.
9 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn back thine hand as a grape-gatherer into the baskets. 10 To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it. 11 Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord; I am weary with holding in: I will pour it out upon the children abroad, and upon the assembly of young men together: for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that isfull of days. 12 And their houses shall be turned unto others, with their fields and wives together: for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord. 13 For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. 14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. 15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the Lord. 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. 17 Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.
https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/matthew-henry-complete/jeremiah/6.html
Mathew Henry Commentary Jeremiah 6:16
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