I’m tired. Where can I find rest?
“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. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.'” – Jeremiah 6:16.
Rest is found on the good way of the ancient paths.
The people of Judah were judged.
Their cities were wells full of oppression, evil, violence, destruction, sickness and wounds (v 6-7).
Their people were greedy for unjust profits. People dealt falsely. Even the prophets and priests declared peace when there was in truth impending disaster which flowed from their evil (v 13-14).
Their people are stubbornly rebellious. They slander (v 28).
The word of the Lord is the object of scorn to them; they do not pleasure in the word (v 10).
This is the picture of people who turn away from the ancient paths.
Where are the ancient paths? How are they to be found?
Stop in your tracks.
Stand by the road.
Look hard with eyes not of flesh but spirit.
Ask for the ancient paths. Seek. Question. Explore.
It is right there. Before you. Beneath your noses. At your bedside. Under your bills and newspapers. In your phone.
The only question then is, will you walk in it? Or will you follow the trail of the people of Judah and say, we will not walk in it?
We need rest for our souls. Rest is waiting for us on the good way of the ancient paths.