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. — Jeremiah 6:16
Some of the most challenging things to navigate in our world are crossroads. After all, how many times have you approached an intersection in a car and seen an accident? Perhaps someone went through the intersection when they were not supposed to, perhaps they miscalculated, or they possibly went the wrong way.
Or maybe you are like me. Sometimes you come to a crossroads and you go a certain direction, then quickly realize you made the wrong choice. You are searching for a way to escape and correct your mistake. Sometimes that is easy to do, but other times it can be challenging.
Each and every time that we face a crossroads, we face a choice. We must make a decision on the direction we are going to travel, the way we are going to navigate it, and sometimes those decisions can be confusing or challenging. We see in this verse in Jeremiah that God told the people to stand in the ways, or stand at the crossroads. He gave them a specific command that they were to ask for the old paths.
Those were the proven paths. The paths that were good, the paths that they would be able to navigate and he said that there would be rest. Unfortunately, the end of the verse says that the people refused. They didn’t want to walk in God’s paths, in the proven ways. We see that very decision play out in our world today where people constantly reject God and His proven path. They believe they have a better way than God.
God’s way is proven. It’s a good way and a good path. Some may call it old fashioned or an old way and that’s okay! Because if you follow God’s path, you will not be looking for a way to fix your mistake or find yourself in the middle of a collision with disaster. Which path are you following?