GPS - Grow, Pray, Study Weekly Guide: Wednesday, October 6

Jeremiah 25:1-14 

God used Moses to bring the Israelites out of Egypt, eventually bringing them to the “Promised Land.” Early in the journey, the people were constantly complaining and longing to go back to Egypt. They seemed to prefer the oppression they had known to the freedom they didn't know or understand. Generation after generation the Israelites would follow God faithfully for a short time, only to turn away again and again. They had been warned not to imitate the people in the surrounding areas. They had been warned that doing so would inevitably lead them into a life of disobedience, breaking their part of God's covenant relationship with them. God repeatedly sent prophets to warn the people that if they didn't get back on track they would wind up oppressed yet again in a foreign land.

For the Israelites, the path of least resistance seemed to be conforming to the ways of all the people around them. That meant worshipping false gods and adopting customs that were contradictory to their covenant with the God who brought them out of Egypt. Instead of being unique in their faithfulness to this God, they chose to get on the interstate to cruise along.

Just as many interstates direct traffic away from or along the outskirts of a city, this interstate directed the Israelites away from the one true God.

Think of an example of this kind of interstate in your daily life. In what ways does the path of least resistance lead you away from faithfully following in the way of Jesus?