God wants to give you a new name: The Restorer of Paths. Doesn’t that sound good?
Rather than building fresh paths, rather than perpetuating the problem, you and I can restore the infrastructure God created to help people live well.
In a world dominated by alternative paths that lead people to destruction, God wants us to restore the old paths.
He wants us to take the name of…
The Restorer of Paths.
In the Old Testament, God’s people experienced ongoing challenges. They knew to obey God and follow His Way, but the forces of the world, the flesh, and the Devil would overcome them.
Interestingly, the periods of revival seemed to decrease in intensity as the periods of depravity became more egregious.
Defeat, destruction, and captivity seemed inevitable. The people had…
A choice,
…but they seemed unwilling to do the right thing.
God called the people through Prophet Jeremiah:
Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.
Jeremiah 6:16
I believe we, like God’s people of old, stand in the ways. We see what is going on around us. We have a choice to make between the new ways and the old.
You don’t have to choose…
The wrong path.
Many of our predecessors made bad choices. Right now, many of our peers are choosing the wrong path. You and I would think they knew better. Israel had a similar problem.
Repeatedly, God’s people went the wrong way. More often than not, they chose the wrong path.
They adopted the world’s values. They served false gods. They did as they pleased. They committed fornication, adultery, idolatry, and perversion. They sacrificed their babies to Satan.
I was talking about Israel, but I might as well speak of our country, the United States.
Do you ever wonder why people choose the wrong way?
I think people sometimes choose the wrong path because…
It seems right.
If you want to seem normal in an abnormal society, you might think that you have to “go along to get along.”
How about this: “Everyone is doing it!”
Here’s what the scripture says in Proverbs 14:12:
There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
Proverbs 14:12
Your intuition, your feelings, your desires, and even your intellect will lead you into destruction. Your desire to “fit in” could put you on the wrong path.
Many people end in ruin because they listened to…
Bad influencers.
Be careful about taking advice from people.
The Bible says, in Proverbs Chapter 11,
Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.
Proverbs 11:14
In this context, not just any counsel will do. You need good counsellors.
Sadly, many people take counsel from the wrong people.
There is such a thing as bad advice. Some people are not qualified to advise you.
Jesus asked,
Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?
Luke 6:39
If you choose the wrong counselor, you will share that counselor’s destruction.
This reminds me of the biblical account of king Rehoboam. He made bad choices about the counsel he received
After King Solomon died, Rehoboam had a choice to make. His future and the future of Israel were at stake.
Scripture says that…
King Rehoboam forsook the counsel of the old men…
..2 Chronicles 10:13
Instead of listening to the seasoned counsellors who knew his father, he…
Took counsel with the young men that were brought up with him, that stood before him.
2 Chronicles 10:8
He chose to listen to the advice of his peers. That is what got him into trouble
Later, we find out more about these “young” men who led astray the king:
There are gathered unto him vain men, the children of Belial, and have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted, and could not withstand them.
2 Chronicles 13:7
Evil people prey upon the young. We see this in America. Our nation has normalized pedophilia, using the “young and tenderhearted” to gratify their own perverted lusts.
The problem goes beyond the personal abuse of the young by their elders: Why do you think the Democrats want to lower the voting age? Young and impressionable, youth will vote the way Government Schools teach them, not after the way of their parents. Not following the advice of wise counselors.
Here’s a parenting power tip: You had better pay attention to the kind of people who surround your children. You had better pay attention to what the Government is teaching your children at school.
“Vain men, the children of Belial” are still intentionally putting young people on the wrong path.
Rehoboam’s choice of the wrong path set the course for the destruction of the whole nation of Israel. Similarly, evil influencers have leveraged the young to set America on a course for destruction.
Now, more than ever, we need you to be.
The Restorer of Paths.
The people need someone to speak against their evil ways. Someone must warn the people of impending doom.
Someone needs to tell the truth.
If, either collectively or individually, we will find the old paths, someone will have to…
Preach.
In Isaiah Chapter 58, God told the Prophet to
Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.
Isaiah 58:1
I believe that most so-called Christians today would have a heart attack or throw a conniption fit if they ever heard the word of God preach the way God wants it preached.
While giving their lives to sin, the people “played church.”
They maintained their rituals. They presumed that God was on their side. They felt invincible.
No wonder David prayed to God saying,
Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins;
Psalms 19:13
As our nation embraces perversion of every kind, calling evil good and good evil, people still have the audacity to say, “God bless America.”
People think that we have guaranteed liberty and guaranteed prosperity.
All the while, we’re careening into Hell.
Somehow, people think that new paths in…
Religion
will save us.
Looking in Isaiah Chapter 58, we see that the people fasted. They were up to date with their religious rituals.
Let me give you a newsflash:
If you think your religious practice will cause God to hear your voice or save our country, you’re wrong.
God wants to see some…
Action.
To become The Restorer of Paths, we must get involved.
Rather than going through the motions, we need to obey God’s will.
At the time, the people were doing things, like fasting, that they believed placed them on God’s good side.
However, through Isaiah, God tells us that he wants more than a ritual. Here’s what God Says to the people who are supposedly following in his service.
Is not this the fast that I have chosen? [Got wants us] to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
…If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;
…If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul…
Isaih 58:6-10
That is what God wants us to do.
God wants us on the old path. But, so often, we embrace the new. By doing so, we displease God.
I’m not talking about wicked contemporary social and political activism. I’m not talking about the subversive actions of evil people. I’m not talking about destroying the righteous and just in the name of tolerance.
I’m not talking about the racist communist propaganda you see on television ads, movies, sports, and the fake news.
I’m talking about doing things God’s Way. I’m talking about making a sincere transformation of our attitudes. I’m talking about being right and doing right.
James underscored the importance of works to the “with God” life:
A man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
James 2:18
To get back the old paths, we need to do something more than act religious.
As you…
Respond,
I want you to think about the old paths. Perhaps, you’ve never experienced them. Some people might not know what the old paths are.
Our nation lies in ruin. Wicked people have led us astray. It’s time to cry out and lift up your voice against sin. It’s time to lay aside religious habits and rituals. It’s time to rise up and do good to those who need our help.
If you’ll do what God tells us to do, here’s what God will do for us:
Then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness [be] as the noonday:
And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
Isaiah 58:10-12
I want to live in the light. I want continual guidance from the Lord. I want our nation to be like a watered garden.
A spring of water sounds so much nicer than the sewage Satan sends in through your television, smart phones and game consoles.
I want the old paths. I’ll take a new name. Will you also take that name? Let us put action to our faith. Let’s stand against wickedness. Let God call us “The Restorer of Paths”!