If I have an hour or three to go anywhere, I always find my way to water. Whether a stream, or a river, or the lake, there’s something in the sight, sound, and feel of the water that is satisfying to my soul. So I go there.
Have you ever looked at the path across a bridge, how it is faded in the middle from a thousand steps? Or down your stairs, the variation in the color of the carpet or wood? Or through the woods, how the paths are trodden and worn?
As well-marked by their own footprints was the path God’s people took to worship…their idols.
“Look at your way in the valley” (Jeremiah 2:23), God says. The people of God had worn a path that was unmistakable in direction and undeniable in destination. God didn’t have to go looking for his people; he knew exactly where to find them.
When we feel sad, where do we travel to find happiness? When we feel in danger, where do we run to find security? When we feel rejected, where do we crawl to find acceptance? If we have a pressing problem or desire, we try to find our way to that place, that thing, that person, that we believe can ultimately save us.
What paths are well-travelled in your life? Where do your footprints lead to most often?
In the end, we are all put to shame by our idols, that is, we are all embarrassed that having put all our hope in them, they failed to deliver what they promised us. All our idols “are false, and there is no breath in them.” (Jeremiah 10:14) They cannot speak to the deepest parts of us. They cannot heal our deepest hurts, satisfy our deepest longings nor deliver us from our deepest sins.
But in Jesus (John 1:14-17), God’s grace is poured out towards us, and not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:10). It doesn’t leave us or abandon us or deceive us into believing what is not true. It redirects our feet, it makes a new path, it leads us into the truth of who Jesus is and who we are. In him our soul can find its deepest, truest, and fullest satisfaction forever.
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