The Way of the Lord

The deep cry of the human heart is ‘How can I be a good person and live a good life?’ This deep longing and desire is answered throughout the bible.

 

Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may live according to your truth! Grant me purity of heart, so that I may honor you. With all my heart I will praise you, O Lord my God. I will give glory to your name forever, for your love for me is very great. You have rescued me from the depths of death.

Psalm 86:11-13 (New Living Translation)

 

The above passage from the ancient Hebrew scriptures is one of many that answers this question. (cf. Psalm 128:1-4; Proverbs 12:28 (contrast with Proverbs 14:12); Proverbs 4:26,27; Proverbs 5:5,6; Proverbs 5:21-23; Psalm 32:8,9; 2 Peter 1:3-5; Psalm 37:34; Psalm 50:23; Psalm 139:23,24; Deuteronomy 8:6; Proverbs 15:10)

How can we summarize the bible’s answer to this universal human longing?

1. God has “a way.”
2. It is different from “my way.”
3. I need to learn it.
4. He can teach it to me.
5. I need to obey His instructions and apply myself to learning to walk in His ways.
6. There are wonderful results we can expect from learning to walk in His ways:

• Purity of heart.
• A life that honors God.
• Joy and prosperity of a life of abundance.
• Power to be transformed into a new person.
• The pleasure of His presence.

 

The Way of the Lord: the Five-fold Path of Ancient Hebrew Spirituality

There is a path to God, a path that is overlooked by many in the Christian church in the West. Nevertheless, it is a well worn path, an ancient path that was revealed to the early Hebrews, the Jews, who are the main characters of what many call the Old Testament scriptures.

This may sound provocative, perhaps even theologically absurd! An ancient path? A path overlooked? Is this another ‘secret knowledge‘ theory? Am I suggesting that the theological experts and great spiritual thinkings of our day have missed what I have now seen? Hardly!

But wait; perhaps the problem behind what I am describing is the very common one of ‘not seeing the forest for the trees.’ For many religious or spiritual people it is very difficult to see past the assumptions and conclusions of our upbringing and early training. We see what we expect to see unless we are forced (or invited) to reassess our assumptions and look at the data from a new angle.

When we return to the source material of the bible, and we look at what it contains from a fresh perspective, we find something very, very old; an idea that has been shouting at mankind for a long time. It is an idea at variance with the assumptions of much of modern spirituality and religious practices in the world as we know it. And yet, it is a perspective on God, on ourselves, on the experience of life on this planet that opens the doors to us to hope for a new kind of life.

Here is an overview of this biblical perspective:

The Bigger story of the Bible: God’s strategy to fix a broken creation.

Plot summary of the story: Mankind has lost its way but God has provided a path that leads back home.

1. Sin in the Garden of Eden was an act of rebellion and unbelief. This broke the intimate relationship mankind enjoyed with the Creator and disrupted their ability to live true life.
2. The result was death, sickness, discord with one another, and every kind of brokenness and destruction. These things are now commonplace in our experience in the world.
3. God’s plan to rescue and restore His creation began with one man (Abraham) and his family. God solemnly promised that through them He would produce the ultimate and final solution to the tragedy in the Garden of Eden. Through an amazing effort on God’s part humanity can be restored to proper relationship with God and to the true life they were created to live. The story of the bible is the story of what God did to accomplish this feat.
4. At the beginning of this story we encounter a key theme in God’s strategy: the Way of the Lord.

Genesis 18:19 - God singled out Abraham so that he would direct his family to keep the “Way of the Lord.” God’s plan and His promise to bless all the nations of the world through Abraham hinged on this. “I have singled him out so that he will direct his sons and their families to keep the way of the LORD and do what is right and just. Then I will do for him all that I have promised.”

 

The Struggle to Stay on the Way of the Lord

Throughout the bible we find God speaking and working among His people to complete the job He assigned to Abraham. But all did not go well or easily. Only God’s persistence and patience could ultimately complete the task of teaching His people how to walk in His ways.

1. Psalm 81:13 – Abraham’s family (Israel) failed to follow the Way of the Lord. As a result they suffered the consequences of their foolishness and rebellion over and over again. They also forfeited the blessings and benefits of true life in God.
2. II Chronicles 6:26, 27 – Yet, hope was continually offered to rebellious Israel. They were promised that if they turned back to God He would teach them and help them to walk in the Way of the Lord and be restored to true life in God.
3. Matthew 22:16 – The Pharisees correctly recognized that Jesus was busy teaching the people about the Way of God (i.e., the Way of the Lord).
4. John 14:6 – Not only did Jesus faithfully teach the people about the Way of the Lord, he said that he himself was the perfect embodiment of it; he was “the Way!”
5. Acts 9:2 – The first follower’s of Jesus naturally took this as their identity and were known as the Followers of the Way. Their movement was know as “the Way”. (See also, Acts 18:25; 19:9, 23; 22:4)
6. Ephesians 4:20-24 – The life and experience of Jesus’ followers is generally characterized as a process of exchanging the “old way” for the “new.” The old ways must be abandoned and replaced with the Way of the Lord if True Life is to flourish. (See also, Col. 3:12-14; Eph. 3:16-19; 2 Cor. 4:16-18)

ronford :: Apr.14.2007 :: Uncategorized ::

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