Asking for the Old Paths This Season

 By: Rebekah Hargraves

Photo Courtesy Of: Ales Krivec

"Thus says the Lord:

“Stand by the roads, and look,

    and ask for the ancient paths,

where the good way is; and walk in it,

    and find rest for your souls."

~Jeremiah 6:16

I love it when it is so clear the Lord is speaking to you because He keeps bringing to mind a particular passage from His Word. This has been happening to me a lot lately, and that passage has been this one - Jeremiah 6:16.

For months now, the Spirit has been speaking to me about the importance of returning to the old paths - the ones wherein we will actually find true rest for our souls.

You see, I struggle in this area. I don't know about you, but I often feel a strong pull towards social media, scrolling, and "keeping up with the Pinterst Joneses", as it were. But what I am finding is that these modern-day paths are not bringing rest to my soul. In fact, quite the opposite has been happening. 

I have been feeling increasingly weighed down, stressed, overwhelmed, frustrated, discouraged, and discontent lately the more time I spend scrolling social media and keeping up with all the latest news.

If this has been your experience lately, too, I want you to pay attention to that. The Lord is trying to get your attention. We were never meant to spend countless hours peeking into the lives of others. We were never meant to be inundated every moment of every day by news of all the latest tragic events taking place all over the world. 

This doesn't mean it is wrong to spend any time on social media at all or that you cannot derive some benefit from it (I believe you can!). It also doesn't mean that you should be as an ostrich with its head in the sand, completely unaware of what is going on around the world and therefore unable to pray over any of it. 

But it is to say that you and I were never meant to become borderline omnipresent or borderline omniscient in this way. It is to say that we were never created to live at this frenetic pace. 

I felt led to share this with you today of all days, because we are very quickly approaching Thanksgiving and Christmas, the busiest season of the year for most of us. And I want to encourage you right here and right now to prayerfully make an intentional choice to ask God for the ancient paths and begin to walk therein. 

Because if you do not make that choice now, you will quickly become sucked into the hustle and bustle of the season yet again without truly understanding why you are doing all you are doing. Pause now, before we get into the thick of it all, and seek God. Seek His pace, His path, His way.

 Because His pace, His path, and His way will bring rest to your souls. 

Reflection Questions:

1)  Stop for a moment right where you are and take a soul assessment. Does your soul feel at rest? Or do you find yourself in desperate need of rest for your soul?

2) Stop for a moment and assess the pace you have been keeping lately. How much time do you spend scrolling social media or devouring all the latest news? Have you been living life at a hustle and bustle pace? 

3) What is God inspiring you to change? What ancient path is He calling you to?