Verse of the Day 5/1

Verse of the Day 5/1

Isaiah 30:21 Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying,

"This is the way, walk in it,"
Whenever you turn to the right hand
Or whenever you turn to the left.  New King James Version (NKJV)

As I read this verse in my Old Testament reading the other day I was reminded of a 5th grade field trip on May 2 that our school class made to Cantigny park in Illinois.  There were several trails in the park and a friend and I got ahead of the group  and it led to an adventure.  We were supposed to be on a 2 mile hike but we made the wrong turn to the left and ventured off on the wrong trail.  When we realized that this was taking longer than it should we found a map that pointed out "you are here" and saw that we had taken the 5 mile path and we were at the far end of it.  Well, we high tailed it back and got back to the group with everyone on the bus and the teachers about ready to go off on a search for us.  The problem was that we had gotten too far ahead to hear any of the voices from behind telling us which way to go at that trail intersection.

A.W. Tozer writes, "Why does the voice of the Lord sound from behind us instead of coming as usual from before?  The rest of the verse makes it clear, "whether you turn to the right or to the left".  Whenever we turn our backs on the way, the voice comes from behind us.  The Lord never leaves the way.  His voice sounds in the way if we wander from it we can only hear a word from behind us, never in front.".

That was over 50 years ago but the memory of straying from the correct path has stuck with me.  In our spiritual lives, if we are not careful, as humans we are prone to wander.  The importance of staying in God's Word day by day is that we are close to Him and we'll hear His voice as He calls to us from His Word or bring it to mind.  The further we stray, the less likely we will be to hear His call and we may have a long way back to where we left the path. Don't get too far ahead, wait for Him.

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace
Streams of mercy, never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above
Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon it
Mount of Thy redeeming love

Here I raise my Ebenezer
Here there by Thy great help I've come
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home
Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wandering from the fold of God
He, to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood

--   In Christ,  Mike    Folllow the Verse of the Day blog at http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com  Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,  in accordance with the riches of God's grace.  NIV    

Isaiah 30:18-22 English Standard Version (ESV)

The Lord Will Be Gracious

¹⁸ Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you,
    and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
    blessed are all those who wait for him.

¹⁹ For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. ²⁰ And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. ²¹ And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it," when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. ²² Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, "Be gone!"