Set up road signs;
    put up guideposts.
Take note of the highway,
    the road that you take.   (Jeremiah 31:21)

We often talk poetically and philosophically about the journey of life.  This is entirely appropriate.  Life is indeed a journey.  It is not a soft resting place by a stagnant pool of calm water where we can collapse and rest.  Perhaps there are times of rest and breathing between major changes, but other times it feels as if our little boat is sailing on a fast-flowing river, sometimes in flood, with waves overwhelming us.  Then we cling on and call out to the Saviour in the boat.  Sometimes our cries are even tinged with reproach, as we discussed recently.

There’s a place of which I know,  without worries, without pain, and sorrow. 

The road there is uncharted, the journey there is without haste, 

And there is a resting place along the way.

These are words of a song.  I like it.  The road is uncharted, but I have the Guidepost of all times in my hand that I must consult.  The journey is without haste, for I walk each day, every day, on the “abacus of time”.

We actually have no choice but to face the road and undertake the journey with what we have been given.  We are born with gifts and talents, formed by God Himself—every person on this earth—has the potential of divinity within them.  We can choose to submit it to our Creator-God and live out our life’s purpose, or suppress it and crown the self-god on the throne of our lives.  This is indeed the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil—the choice makes every person their own god, self-crowned king, fullness of knowledge in their own eyes.

No talent or gift is ever withdrawn, whether dedicated to God or used in the service of the greatest evil. (Romans 11:29)  Once again, as with everything, the power lies in choice.  It is a daily choice, sometimes about significant life decisions and sometimes about the smallest remark spoken. 

Who is the King in my castle?  Who hears every word from my mouth, unseen?  Will we not then give an account of the fruit of our words as we learn and forget?  Hear what Job says:

Though I were righteous, my own mouth would condemn me;
Though I were blameless, it would prove me perverse.  (Job 9:20)

The Psalmist expresses the violence of words:

Who sharpen their tongue like a sword,
And bend their bows to shoot their arrows—bitter words, (Psalm 64:3)

Proverbs conveys the healing power of words:

Pleasant words are like a honeycomb,
Sweetness to the soul and health to the bones. (Proverbs 16:24)

What then is the right path, the highway we must walk?

Refer back to the Sunday School verse we all had to learn. That long Psalm we skip through, in which every verse speaks of the Word of God. The Psalmist sets the principle early on:

How can a young man cleanse his way?
By taking heed according to Your word.
With my whole heart I have sought You;
Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!
Your word I have hidden in my heart,
That I might not sin against You.  (Psalm 119:9-11)

It is God’s word in our words that keeps us from evil.  It is the only way we can truly discern wickedness from goodness.  In the revelation knowledge and teaching that we receive from the mouth of God Himself, we learn the path of life and can set up direction signs that keep us from pitfalls.

We have talked so much about offense and its true meaning.  Offense is a trap (skandalon in Greek) that the devil uses to bind you in anger and fear, with all the side effects of his evil plan to make you sick, discouraged, and ineffective.  Read Luke 17 again, where Jesus speaks and says how common it is—the stumbling block for all.  Offense is a soft word.  It might not sound serious to you, but the anger and soul-storm within you are not soft.  It is violence that spills soul-blood with wounds that cause you to lose your way.  It is the role of other people, people used in an evil plan, to get to you.

The most serious consequence is unforgiveness, bitterness that takes root and grows.  Such bitterness can dominate our thoughts and even determine our actions.  How many times have we experienced people rejecting others because they do not want to experience the pain of rejection again?  It makes us hesitant in love, shy and reticent in our commitment to others and can even damage our relationship with the Lord.

We immediately think of personal relationships and the “difficult” people in our circle.  This is naturally the first challenge.  Is that person in your path to liberate you and experience the freedom of forgiveness, unconditionally as God has forgiven you?  Is he or she a “soul project” to bring about transformation?

Set up your guideposts.  Seek the Lord, read His Word, ask for strength. Work and pray—make a plan, form a strategy against the wounds that perhaps occur regularly.  We are never victims.  We take control in the Name of Jesus over our inner selves as well as what happens around us. The Lord performs miracles.  He can make us strong against the “sharp tongues like swords and the deadly words like arrows.” Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7)

Then there is also the public realm where politics and global issues draw us into turmoil.  What do you read in the news?  What about the cries of the crowd, street voices that incite, burning flags, destroying the environment, coercion of judgement and violent hysteria?

Why do the nations rage,
And the people plot a vain thing? (Psalm 2:1)

Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket,
And are counted as the small dust on the scales;
Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing.  (Isaiah 40:15)

Look up, Pebblepal!  Next time we will talk about our journey in the unseen, the path with a door into heaven. (Revelation 4:1)