Becoming New: 5 Days of Transformation Through God’s WordSample

The Ancient Path of Wisdom

Jeremiah was probably twenty years old when the Lord called him to leave the priesthood and become a prophet, a much more difficult vocation. A Jewish priest’s work was somewhat routine, while a Jewish prophet was never sure what might happen next. Jeremiah’s assignment was to continue Isaiah’s ministry and call wayward Judah back to obedience to the Lord, for the Babylonian army was preparing to invade the land and punish the apostate nation.

Jeremiah entered into this calling without feeling adequate for the task. But God’s calling always assures us of God’s enabling. Although struggling with discouragement, Jeremiah served faithfully for forty years, suffered much, and watched the nation go into ruin and captivity.

Imagine serving for forty years and seeming to accomplish nothing! But it wasn’t his fault; it was the hard hearts of the people that brought about their destruction. They wanted their way, not God’s way, and they had to suffer the consequences of a bad choice. Israel was playing the fool when they should have grown in wisdom.

Wise people ask for the old, godly way. One of the best ways for an individual believer or a church to go on a detour and lose God’s blessing is to hunger for something new and novel. They want new ways to pray or new excuses not to pray, new ways to promote, new entertaining music and sermons—and in the end, it often fails.

Wise people walk the old way in a new way. Once on the old, godly way, we don’t stand still but move on with new faith and power. Transformation doesn’t mean inventing clever new things or embalming the old things but returning humbly to God’s way with a new hunger for God. The old becomes new when we have a fresh touch of the Spirit and a new devotion to the Word.

When we repent and return to prayer and the Word of God and a desire to glorify Him, then the Lord can make the old things new and the new things of the world disgusting. As by faith, we travel God’s ancient path, we find rest, revival, and victory, and the Lord is honored.

Stop, look, listen, and obey. That’s the way of wisdom—and the only way to becoming new!

Reflect: Reach out to a wise saint about his or her walk with God, and ask if there’s a quicker way to spiritual maturity and inward transformation. What does this teach you about the wisdom of the ancient path?

Pray: Ask God for a fresh touch of the Spirit and a new devotion to the Word.