Monday Moment: Paths

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

Crossroads. Turning points. Forks in the road. We've all been there - one day or another. We've all stood with our backs to the past and our toes touching tomorrow... holding what, we don't know, but still... we stand. And look. And wonder. And hope.

Life is strange. The things we take for granted as constants today are sometimes violently wrested from us tomorrow. The people we depended on last week are not the people we trust this week. The classes that demanded our habitual presence last month no longer welcome us this one. The health we enjoyed last week is shattered by a diagnosis this week. The places we called home last year have different tenants and new locks this year. The jobs that paid our bills (or came close!) last pay period come up empty this one. Life is abrupt. Cruel, at times. Even its mainstays are generally fleeting.

Paths. They are tough. And while we're limited by our inability to anticipate the future, we are never limited in our ability to commune with the One who holds it. I think that's why I take such delight in my God. I think that's one reason of several that I crack open my Bible and bow my head to pray. My God is eternal. Immutable. He's not bound by time or limited by today. He's my forever One. He's the rock upon which I can freely build my foundation...

...and set my path. Strange, wild, and unpredictable as it may be.

It's easy, isn't it, for us to agonize over our place in this life? Over our path through life. We want to get it right. We want to give it our best shot in the hopes we don't waste our chance at living. I've spent countless days obsessing... needlessly worrying... about my path. This week, in fact, I wrestled with decisions and opportunities. I've prayed over chances and risks. Lord, I've said, in Proverbs You promise, 'Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths'. Make that true for me, Lord. Please make that true for me.

So you can imagine my delight when I stumbled across the verse in Jeremiah 6 this morning. Stand... look... ask... and walk, it says, and you will find rest for your souls. Point being, when your faith is firmly anchored in the cross and sacrifice of Jesus our Lord... when your hope is firmly fastened to the grace and goodness of God... you can look at your path, however bewildering, and stand, look, ask and walk, knowing you won't have traveled in vain.

I realize this is nothing new. I understand we've heard this all before. But I wanted to remind myself today that new challenges, new hurts, new opportunities, new days... are just new ways for God to prove Himself constant and sure. All we have to do is ask, listen, and walk toward the arms of our patient Heavenly Father.

And rest -blessed rest - for our souls awaits.

Your paths... with their unexplained mystery... they are His paths,

on which He will prove Himself loving and faithful. Nothing else; nothing less.

- Amy Carmichael

Monday Moment is a little devotional to help kick-start your week. See you again next Monday!