Thus says the Lord: “Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls.”
—Jeremiah 6:16, to the people of Judah—
Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.
—Jonah 3:10—
The backstory of this verse is that in response to Jonah’s warning of impending divine judgment, the people of the city of Nineveh repented of their sins, and God mercifully turned away from his earlier plan to destroy it.
So rend your heart, and not your garments;
Return to the Lord your God,
For He is gracious and merciful,
Slow to anger, and of great kindness;
And He relents from doing harm.
—Joel 2:13—
Key point: The basis for American liberty isn’t personal autonomy; it’s pursuing one’s dreams and goals in accordance with “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.”
This post is adapted from a larger article titled “Finding Freedom and Liberty Where Many Today Would Never Expect to Find Them,” which you can access here.
In an article I wrote in 2019 titled “Principles of Liberty,” my readers and I explored ten biblical principles embedded in the Declaration of Independence. That post is available here. Item #3 on or ten-item list of biblical truths in the Declaration stated,
God and His laws establish the track on which men and nations must travel to attain happiness, fulfillment, and greatness; and to reach their God-given potential.
Here is a portion of what we said about this principle.
Our Founders knew that men and women cannot live fulfilled lives by merely following their whims and desires, treading down whatever paths their raw appetites direct them. Rather, they must “assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them.” The word entitle is important here, and it appears both in Jefferson’s draft and in the final document. Entitle as the Founders used it is light years away from the meanings it and its various forms frequently carry today. How do we know this? Because according to the men who ratified the Declaration, that to which the people are entitled is granted and governed according to “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.” By contrast, today, people look to government for everything to which they believe they are “entitled.”
Take note! The parameters set by “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” are not nearly as restrictive as they are liberating.…[Yet s]adly, the idea that liberty and law go together is a foreign concept to Americans today. Many, if not most, see these two elements as totally contradictory. But they’re not! Not only are they compatible; they’re inseparable! How can a nation prosper? How can liberty thrive? Only under God!…
Charles Carroll, [a] signer of the Declaration, declared, “Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure (and) which insures to the good eternal happiness, are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments.”
Some may initially believe God’s laws are overly restrictive. After all, this is what our culture teaches, even when it doesn’t use these exact words. Yet upon reflection and study, evidence mounts that while divine laws are restrictive on one level, they are liberating on a far deeper and more significant one. The law of gravity provides an excellent example. If we attempt to violate it, we pay a price, and potentially a very high one. Yet gravity makes ordered life on this earth possible. We benefit from it when we cooperate with it! Take note! The law of gravity is an inseparable part of “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.” What we see concerning gravity also is true about other natural laws as well.
In other words, ordered life and ordered liberty become possible when we cooperate with God’s laws. Thus, freedom and liberty actually are found in a place where many today never would think to look.
Freedom and liberty actually are found in a place where many today never would think to look. Just as cooperating with gravity makes ordered life on earth possible, cooperating with God’s moral laws makes ordered liberty possible.
The Founding Fathers got a great many things right that contemporary Americans dismiss as “old-fashioned” and “archaic.” The more we engage in honest study, the more we find that on issue after issue, modern thinking is deceptive and the Founding Fathers actually had tremendous insights.
The Warning
A train runs best when it’s on the tracks that were designed and built for it. Indeed, a train cannot run at all without being “on track.” While there is great benefit to finding liberty along the “track” of God’s laws, we must hear and heed the warning associated with failing to revere divine commands and with rejecting them outright. As we noted at the top, the prophet Jeremiah preached God’s message to God’s people in the Southern Kingdom of Judah. “Thus says the Lord,” declared Jeremiah. “’Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls.” We find this in Jeremiah 6:16, but even before we move on to read the 17th verse, we encounter resistance: “But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’”
Verse 17 indicates the people were resolute in their determination not to follow God’s way. Then subsequent verses issue a disturbing warning. God will not ignore His people’s indifference or their deliberate departure from His benevolent guidance for their lives in the form of His laws. Here are verses 17 through 19 of Jeremiah 6:
17 Also, I set watchmen over you, saying,
‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’
But they said, ‘We will not listen.’
18 Therefore hear, you nations,
And know, O congregation, what is among them.
19 Hear, O earth!
Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people—
The fruit of their thoughts,
Because they have not heeded My words
Nor My law, but rejected it.
America is not ancient Judah, but just as God did not excuse His own chosen people for their disobedience, neither will He excuse Americans for rejecting Him, especially when they have heard the truth repeatedly. Jedidiah Morse (1761-1826) became known as the “father of American geography.” He was an educator and the father of American inventor and Samuel Morse, a painter, inventor, and telegraphy pioneer. The elder Morse observed,
To the Kindly influence of Christianity we owe to that degree of civil freedom, and political and social happiness which mankind now enjoy. In proportion as the genuine effects of Christianity are diminished in any nation, either through unbelief, or the corruption of its doctrines, or the neglect of its institutions: in the same proportion will the people of that nation recede from the blessings of genuine freedom, and approximate the miseries of despotism. I hold this to be a truth confirmed by experience. If so, it follows, that all efforts made to destroy the foundations of our holy religion, ultimately tend to the subversion also of our political freedom and happiness. Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown, our present republican forms of government, and all the blessing’s which flow from them, must fall with them.
The Hope
There is, however, hope! As Americans, we must repent of our wayward deeds and return to the Lord! The prophet Joel, who also was God’s spokesman to the people of Judah but during a different period, declared,
2:12 “Now, therefore,” says the Lord,
“Turn to Me with all your heart,
With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.”
13 So rend your heart, and not your garments;
Return to the Lord your God,
For He is gracious and merciful,
Slow to anger, and of great kindness;
And He relents from doing harm.
Moreover, the prophet Jeremiah also said this:
3:21 A voice was heard on the desolate heights,
Weeping and supplications of the children of Israel.
For they have perverted their way;
They have forgotten the Lord their God.
22 “Return, you backsliding children,
And I will heal your backslidings.”
Returning to God, or repenting of our sins, means doing an about-face and, with God’s help, adopting a new way of thinking and of living.
Let us, as the prophet Jeremiah put it, “Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls.”
Only along God’s way—the old paths—will we find authentic liberty and freedom!
Copyright © 2020 by B. Nathaniel Sullivan. All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture passages have been taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
top image credit: Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash