This is the Way; Walk In It

Our men’s breakfast speaker has emphasized “simple” approaches in the face of complicated lives. He has applied this to prayer and Bible reading. Scripture applies it to all of life. Here it is: “This is the way; walk in it” (Isaiah 30:21).

This simple instruction appears in a complicated chapter. But it is not God who does the complicating. It is us. It is us when we rebel; it is us when we listen and follow the world. It is us when we clog up our lives with too many other things. It is us when we re-shape our religion to suit and serve ourselves rather than to do things God’s way. 

So what does God do? He sends us a Teacher. Some of our English translations capitalize this word: Teacher. We know what that means. Our Teacher is Jesus, whom the Father has sent to us, to Save us and to Teach us - who says to us: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by Me” (John 14:6). 

So what is He saying? Simply, He says this: “Follow Me.” “This is the Way; Walk in it.”

We may object and say that it’s not that simple. But be careful. “Simple” and “easy” are not the same things (I told you it was a complicated chapter). Along with the simple statement, “This is the way; walk in it,” is also this statement: “Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction..” (Is 30:20). That’s not easy. But the instruction is still simple: “This is the way; walk in it.”

You notice that I didn’t finish the sentence above. Following the “though” phrase, there is a “yet” phrase: “Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity or the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore.” That is, the more tested we are; the more our concerns mount; the more our fears increase - the more there will be sense of the presence of our Savior as we seek to follow the instruction: “this is the way; walk in it.” That is, as we seek to walk in Jesus’ shadow, aware of His gentle love, praying to display His gracious character, begging Him for His shepherding care and supernatural healing of our minds and our bodies; our churches and our families; our hearts and our souls.

When life is hard, don’t make it complicated. It’s a call to that which is simple. Talk to Jesus. He knows. He cares. “This is the way; walk in it.”