The “Old Paths”

Cause and effect have always come into play throughout human history. Whether the effect is good or bad has always been determined by whether or not people choose to live God’s way. It is a conscious choice that we each must make.

Consider this example.
God warned the inhabitants of Jerusalem prior to the future Babylonian attack on them. “O you children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee from the midst of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a signal-fire in Beth Haccerem; for disaster appears out of the north, and great destruction” (Jeremiah 6:1). They had to choose whether or not to listen and follow through.

God pointed them to a potential good effect. “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 6:16). They were told to take stock of their culture as it was then – to see for themselves the extent to which evil was corrupting them. Upon seeing it, they were to ask for the “old paths” — the good way – and then to turn back to it. However, they chose the bad effect.

The cause of the curse they brought upon themselves was simply because God and His way of life had become irrelevant to them. Instead of trusting Him with all their heart, they were leaning to their own understanding. Captivity was the effect of this “new” way of life based on their own understanding.

Prior to Jeremiah’s time, the same scenario played out after Joshua and the elders of Israel had died. “When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for Israel” (Judges 2:10). The old paths and the good way had been forgotten by the newer generation and God delivered them into the hands of their enemies. The pattern is as relentless as it is foolish.

Today, we have another generation that is rapidly losing any knowledge of God again. As completely sobering as this is, there is a question we (the Church of God) should be asking ourselves for our own spiritual well-being. Are we truly walking in the old paths where God’s way is?

The Apostle Peter addresses both the older and younger generation within the Church as to how to maintain close contact with God and His way. “The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away. Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble,’” (1 Peter 5:1–5).

Together, let us follow the old paths.

Marshall Stiver