SOAP 08/10/2015; Jeremiah 6:16

Today's reading: Jeremiah 5, 6; John 12

S) "¹⁶ Thus says the Lord,
'Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths,
Where the good way is, and walk in it;
And you will find rest for your souls.
But they said, "We will not walk in it."'"

Jeremiah 6:16 (NASB)

O) When the Israelites were on their way to the Promised Land, they were warned through Moses not to conform to the ways of the previous tenants. The Canaanites (mostly) were wicked and their acts were an abomination to the LORD. When He gave the land to Abraham, He had already begun the process of judging the people who lived in the land at that time. When Israel was coming into the Promised Land, God warned them that if they followed the paths of the idolatrous people there, then He would strip them of the land as well (or perhaps more accurately, He stripped the land of them). These verses come from Jeremiah to Jerusalem, who, like Israel before her, was unfaithful to the LORD. The contemporaries of that time made continuous compromises, conforming to the culture around them. In the verse above, God is basically pleading with them, to return to His ways, His ancient paths. His way is good, and walking in it would mean rest for their souls. But, they refused to reform their ways.

A) I live in a very interesting time in my nation. The United States has historically been almost inseparable from Christianity, although from the beginning, the religious leaders in America wanted a strict separation of church and state, because they did not want establishmentarianism. Still, evangelical Christianity was closely tied to our nation for the first 150 years of our country, at least. However, through the 20th century, there was a slow shift away from the Bible. That shift began to accelerate through the 1990s and in the last 10-15 years, there have been a lot of social/legal changes, that have made it clear that the majority of our public is no longer what the Bible defines as Christian. In almost every case of culture shifting away from biblical principles on a topic, the rhetoric seems the same, that modernity demands with its new perspectives, a new definition of right.
To be clear, I do not believe things are good simply because they are old.
On the flipside, there is no improving what the Bible calls good. The problem has been, that people in power have misused religion to further their evil intent. This is not new either. At the same time, sin deceives individuals and they succumb to the lie that their lives would be better off if they were sovereign individuals. The combination of those to ideas (and others) results in a culture shift that rejects the good way God has established, mocking ancient truth as antiquated. In my own life, I must cling to the same ancient path that the LORD implored His people to seek in this verse. The same biblical truth remains just as good today as it always has been. God knows, I do not, but maybe the church as a whole, will be better off at the end of this cultural upheaval. At no other time in my life, have I felt the cost of Christianity more than I do today, and I fully expect it to cost me more than ever as I go forward. I can grieve the romanticized ideals of yester-year, or I can take joy in my sufferings for Christ. God's way is still good, I will still walk in it, and I will find rest for my soul.

P) Father, You are so good, almost indescribably gracious, that You would seek a people who actively reject You. I know that I have been a rebel. Even still, the gospel pierced my heart. The Holy Spirit drew me to You, and with opened eyes and ears, I began to see Your goodness for what it plainly is. As I move into a time, the likes of which I have never seen, I pray that Your grace is renewed in me every day. I know that as I continue to seek You, whatever the cost, You will continue to meet me and affirm Your goodness as I stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it, and I will find rest for my soul. In Jesus's name I pray. Amen.