“Remember your journey…that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord.”
Micah 6:5
This is the path we’re following today – remembering – looking back at God’s work in us on our life’s journey –remembering we’re not alone. Even in our apparent wanderings, our aimless steps, our missteps and dead ends – God is forming us. There is a purpose, there is a plan, and there is the mighty hand of God using all that happens on our journey for good.
I smile as I slow down, signal, and turn my car into the parking lot, angling into one of the twelve parking spots at my favorite beach. It’s a good day – I’m exercising.
I grab my tennis shoes from a bag in the back seat, ignoring the sand that spills into my lap, I lace up, then pull on my ski jacket and beanie cap – I’m ready.
Descending the concrete steps from the bulkhead my feet sink into wet, compact sand as the salty wind whips the tips of my hair below my hat. I gasp as I inhale the cold air, laughing while I move forward eager to warm my limbs.
My eyes soak in the familiar 180 degree expanse of sky and sea. The Point – my destination – looms up ahead, a place where jagged cliffs protrude and the beach disappears at their feet. The spot is marked by a huge boulder towering above any walkers that rest at her base.
This journey is easy, requiring little thought. No curves – no hills – no road blocks. A straight jaunt forward – one pirouette turn –then a straight expanse of beach back to the parking lot.
My life’s journey is very different. Often I travel with no clear destination, no GPS – no trail guide – just a misty unknown and a mountainous trail filled with switchbacks, turns, and even dead ends.
I’m reading Eugene Peterson’s book “As Kingfisher’s Catch Fire” and I’m swept away by his descriptions of the journey of the Israelites. The journey – all forty plus years – had purpose and meaning – it was so much more than aimless wandering, getting from Point A to Point B.
It was about the re-forming of God’s people, literally, remaking them.
Taking people who had been in captivity 400 years – slaves – and reforming them into a free people with a new identity. No longer Egyptian slaves they were being built into God’s people.
They had much to learn – how to be under God’s rule, how to trust Him for day to day life, even simple things like what to eat – even in this God showed up as their Provider giving them His sweet bread from heaven, manna.
They needed to relearn how to worship God, they’d been watching the Egyptian’s serve gods that were man made – who would they acknowledge as their true God?
Their relationships needed reforming, they’d intermarried with foreign women, against God’s commands and needed to realign themselves.
The truth of it is, I need re-forming, too, in many of the ways the Israelites did.
My identity needs re-forming.
I, too, have been held captive to my own ways – self rule, self sufficiency, self wants, self reliance. All these selfish ways have held me down, I’ve followed. Sometimes, self has ruled my worship – I’ve been more self exalting than God worshiping.
My relationships need re-forming.
Picture a bulls eye – this picture formed the vision statement for the church we raised our daughters in. The innermost circle represents a right relationship with God, the next concentric circle represents right relationship with others. The truth being – righteous living produces, or enhances, right relationships.
My relationships need a refresh. I haven’t always been rightly aligned – I’ve used self rule and self righteousness, as opposed to surrender to God’s ways, very different measures.
Even parts of my diet need re-forming.
I’m not speaking about food here, rather the way I nourish my soul. I’ve consumed much of the world’s ideologies, I’ve focused and fed on social media that hasn’t enlightened me so much as led me down dark ways of thinking (comparison, envy, fear..). I’ve fed myself some lies, I’ve consumed some of the culture’s values and have sometimes ignored the righteous ways of the living God.
“Now reform your ways and your actions and obey the Lord your God.”
– Jeremiah 26:13
So, today, I’m pausing on my journey and asking myself some questions and I’d love for you to join me…
- Do I need a rescue – some break through in my life?
- Am I following God and surrendering to His purposes and plans for me or am I fighting to get my own way?
- How has God met me on my journey and how has He been forming me there?
“The One who breaks open the way will go up before them, they will break thru the gate and go out…” – Micah 2:3
Just as the Israelites found themselves wandering for 40 years trying to find the promised land – God’s promised best – we, too, can end up in woods of worries, of doubt, or pain – lost.
It’s easy to choose the path marked ‘My Way’ instead of His Way. You know where your heart has landed today.
If you’re having a bit of a hard time finding a way out – remember….
Remember your journey and how God has met you there. He is forming you, even here. Remember God offers a way –He doesn’t leave us alone. God stands at the door and knocks….
God our Creator – the former of our hearts – promises to reform us – with new hearts and new spirits – and to lead us out of the troubled places we find ourselves. Yes, please!
“God will open up the way in the wilderness, streams in the desert.”
– Isaiah 43:18
**Lord, open up the way even now. Use every step I take, even my missteps, for Your perfect purposes and plans. I invite You to re-form me, to recreate my heart to align more with Yours.
#thisdaygodsway
