The Old Ways
Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination?
No! They were not at all ashamed;
Nor did they know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
At the time I punish them,
They shall be cast down,” says the Lord.
Thus says the Lord:
“Stand in the ways and see,
And ask for the old paths, where the good way is,
And walk in it;
Then you will find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
– Jeremiah 6:15-16.
What is wrong with our country? What is wrong with our world? I believe the immorality that we are seeing that is so abundant everywhere is a result of being on the wrong path. Somewhere along the way we have gotten off course. When I was growing up, except for two years we only attended church services on Easter Sunday. I did go to Vacation Bible School during the summer and when I was in Junior High, I went to a church camp one week.
Sadly, I never heard my parents pray. I think that they did pray but they did so in private. My parents were good parents, and I was blessed to be born into their family. Although my parents did not appear to live a very devout Christian life, I have learned that I have ancestors who were very devoted to the Lord.
Somewhere along the way the children of the devout have gotten off course and it has impacted their children and their children’s children and on and on. It will continue to have a negative impact upon our lives, unless, we do what? Unless we “Stand in the ways.” Stop going down the wrong path. “Ask for the old paths.” Ask the Lord to help us to find the right path for our lives and to give us the power to live godly lives as many of our ancestors once did.
(This devotional has been updated and was originally written and sent on 01.26.1999.)