The Faithful City - Part 2

He shows us the way, the path to a life of peace.

“Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord...He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths. He will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks...Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord.”

He shows us the way, but we choose it not. All too often we refuse to put down our swords; we clutch our spears determinedly. We will use them to defend what we have built, to insist upon our independence.

“Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made.”

The path to peace leads straight up the mountain, to the presence of God. His yoke is easy, and His burden is light...but we don’t trust that truth. He don’t believe His words; we choose instead the familiar, the comfortable, the here and now. We don’t want to walk the path of uncertainty, of the changing of our minds, of humility.

Yet we cannot avoid it. “So people WILL be brought low and everyone humbled...The arrogance of man will be brought low and human pride humbled; the Lord WILL be exalted...and the idols will totally disappear.”

Cling all I want, I cannot keep my pride and my idols. The presence of the Lord will shake them out of me. Why, then, do I resist? Why do I hide away from the splendor that He offers me?

I find myself so grateful for the ways in which God is changing me, humbling me, motivating and enticing me into a deeper relationship with Him. I’m beginning to enjoy each step up the mountain path; I’m watching my life be cleared of the obstacles that often have snared my feet. Further up and further in. Oh, how I wish that I’d have humbled myself sooner.

“Stop trusting in mere humans, who have but a breath in their nostril. Why hold them in esteem?” As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.