Crossroads

We all face them sometime in our lives. We're walking on what seems to be a nice, easy road until....

BAM!

We see that road split off into different directions.

Ever been there?

Crossroads can be sketchy. We want to go the right way, of course, but sometimes that right way doesn't necessarily look right. Sometimes it doesn't feel right either. It doesn't feel comfortable. Maybe that was what Jeremiah was talking about in chapter 6, verse 16: "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."

Ancient paths. Old, worn down paths. Maybe ones that are overgrown and don't even have proper trail markings or signs on them.

I drive a lot, and directions aren't my strong suit (though I am getting better!). A few weeks ago a crazy thing happened to me where there was a car accident on the main highway I usually take to go home from a retail store I work at. The whole highway going east was closed, so I was forced to go west, got off at the next exit and prayed for a way out of this mess as cars were everywhere filled with people having the same problem as me. I was on the phone with a friend and he looked up directions for me to get back home on back roads I never even heard of.

There was one main road I had to go on for quite awhile, but I didn't know how long until I had to take a left onto another road. I went a considerable distance and felt a check in my spirit.

"Did I pass that road?" I looked around frantically.

I must have because I noticed civilization was beginning to thin out. I went from being in a very populated to a not so populated area. So I made a decision to turn around.

I doubled back looking especially hard for that road until I came back right where I started.

Well this is just great!

I rolled my eyes and the wheel yet again to turn back around.

It just so happened that the road I was looking for was just a little less than a half mile down from where I had my initial turnaround.

Sometimes the right road is not the easiest road. Sometimes the right road is not the road everyone else is going down. Sometimes that road is the one NO ONE else is going down. It's dangerous, unmarked, and in many ways unknown.

It's "ancient."

The wonderful thing about that ancient path though is that God allows us to stand, look and ask. If we feel lost, we can ask God for directions. We can ask God for a reassurance. And I believe that He is right there to give it to us. He may not give us a light though, so we can see down the path. He may just give us a nudge forward, encouraging us to keep going onto the next exciting thing He has for us.

What is that exciting thing? God, please show me.