The Old Paths
“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. 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. Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, we will not hearken… Jeremiah 6:15-17.”
The tale of the nation of Judah is our story. It is the story of today’s church, surely not! Have we been carried to Babylon? Obviously, we haven’t been physically been taken away, but we have in a spiritual sense. Have we also been taken into captivity by some sin and carried off to be far from God?
Why were the children of Israel/Judah taken into captivity? The first thing is that they weren’t ashamed of their sin; their sin did not make them blush. When sin dulls your mind and you start making excuses for it, then you need to beware, you are on a slippery slope to being taken captive.
Secondly, they were told by Jeremiah how to avoid this, but they refused to respond to rebuke. So many times, they had been told to repent and ask for the old paths; they were presented with the right way; they knew that these paths were good, but they refused to walk in the right path. Do we know the right path, but still refuse to take it and walk on it? There is the sound of the trumpet, you think people would listen to it, but again they refused to listen.
You hear the sound of the trumpet every Sunday Morning and Evening, but your mind is so numb that it has little or no effect. Millions and millions of so called Christians go to church every Sunday, but they leave the church no different to the time they entered it. They are one of two things, spiritually dead or spiritually dormant; which are you?
The nation of Israel/Judah had plenty of chances to repent and to turn back to God, but they refused, so they were taken into captivity. This will happen to us, if we don’t return to the Old paths. It’s like the church in Ephesus in the book of Revelation, we have to return to our first love.
Jesus says let him who has ears to hear to all seven churches, we have not just to listen but to act in repentance and obedience.
God bless you, Keith