“WE MAKE THE ROAD BY WALKING”
“For this commandment which I command you this day is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up for us to heaven, and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us, and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it! I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live.”
– Deuteronomy 30:11-14, 19
Say it with me… “We make the road by walking”… Yes… we make the road by walking… and remember… walking is a controlled fall… and we all… each of us… must move beyond a crawl and learn to walk before any of us can run… and when we do begin running… we’re good to not run too, too fast that we might leave others behind and worse than that… think that those who might be running too, too fast have just run away from the rest of us… argh… and yet, I’m not really sure Moses thought much about that after wandering in the wilderness for forty years… as these words above are from the book of Deuteronomy at the end of that wandering when God’s people were very close to walking into the land God promised them… a land full of milk and honey… a land of plenty to start life over again.
Isn’t that what happens to us as we keep on walking? We walk toward God. We walk with God. Then we walk away from God, And because God is faithful… someone comes along to point us back to the ways of God.
Have you noticed that’s what can happen as we keep walking? God reminded Moses… “It’s not too hard for you!” In fact, Moses went so far as to say when it comes to walking in God’s ways… it’s not even far off… as none of us needs to go all the way to heaven to find it or one need not go across the sea to look around for the ways of God… but rather… this word of God is so close to us… it is on our lips and in our hearts!
How encouraging is that? Or in our language we might say something like… “it’s right before our very eyes!” So, don’t trip over it! And on top of all that Moses reminds the Hebrew people… ‘you can do it!’… Faith matters! We can!
What does it mean for you to ‘choose life?’ This seems to be on the daily menu for how things go on planet earth, huh? Life is full of choices… all the time… and not exactly like Forest Gump’s mother told him… ‘like a box of chocolates… you never know what you’re gonna get…’ but we … look … we do know what we’re gonna get… don’t we? If we yell at our neighbor, it’s likely our neighbor will yell back at us.
If we are unkind to our children in their youngest years… it is likely they will be unkind to their parents as they grow older… and if one country threatens to drop a bomb on another country, why would any of us be surprised that the threat of retaliation was right around the corner… so maybe Sir Isaac Newton was right… every action having an opposite and equal reaction… blessings and curses included!
Jesus said it this way… “take my yoke and learn from me; my yoke is easy, and my burden is light!” (Mattew 11:29) or consider Eugene Peterson’s translation of Jesus’ words… ““Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
There’s that word… WALK… again… ‘walk with me’ … Jesus said… ‘work with me’… and he will give each of us the rest we need. Rest for our souls… rest deep down inside… where the ways of God have always been helping us ‘choose life!’
The Rev. Dr. Brian K. Gigee is a long-time resident of Pearland, having pastored four churches over the last four decades in Texas and Louisiana. Read more following Brian’s blog ‘murmurings’ at https://briangigee.wordpress.com/. Send comments and/or questions to godworks247365@gmail.com.
