Jeremiah 6:16
“Thus says the Lord: Stop at the crossroads and look around you. Ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it. You will find rest for your souls.”
This passage in the OT provides very helpful and practical insight into why and how to Press Pause and look carefully. The passage gives us four commands—four practical steps—for pressing pause:
1) Stop
2) Look
3) Ask
4) Walk
1) Stop
When you get to a crossroad in life, when you arrive at a decision point, when you are confronted with a situation, Press Pause. Slow down. Get off autopilot and give yourself time to think. The more challenging the situation, the more important it is that you stop and think. We get in trouble when we act too quickly on the basis of impulse and habit. It is imperative that we slow down and think.
Whether at work or at home, we are confronted daily with the battle: discipline vs default. Intentional response vs impulsive reaction. New nature vs old nature. The first step in winning that battle is to Press Pause and think.
2) Look
Jeremiah instructs us to look before we act. We must look carefully at the situation (situational-awareness), and we must look carefully at ourselves (self-awareness).
As you navigate through situations in life and at work, here is the key question you should ask: What does this situation require of me? In order to answer this question, you must Press Pause, think, and gain situational-awareness and self-awareness.
This is the message of Proverbs 4.25-27. The text says, “Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil.”
3) Ask
Once we have Pressed Pause and looked carefully at the situation and at ourselves, the Lord tells us to “ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is.” This is prayer and study of scripture. This is seeking insight from wise, godly people. This is the humility to acknowledge that there are important things about the situation that you do not see and insights you have not thought of.
By telling us to “ask for the ancient paths,” the Lord is directing us to seek timeless truth. He is instructing us to ask, What does the Word of God say about situations like this? “Ancient” in this verse doesn’t mean old; it means timeless. Study the scripture. What does the bible say? Talk to spiritually wise people. What have they learned about situations like this? Pray. Ask God for wisdom and insight into these kind of situations.
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7.7)
4) Walk
Once we have pressed paused, evaluated the situation with courage and wisdom, and sought guidance from timeless truth … we must act. We must step up and do what needs to be done. All the thinking and evaluating and praying and bible study in the world means nothing if we do not walk in the truth.
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves,” says James 1:22. It is our responsibility not just to know the behavioral directives of scripture, but to do them. The bible doesn’t give suggestions. It gives commands.
As we face the situations of life and work, we are to walk according to the principles and truth the Lord has given to us. The message is clear: Don’t just talk, walk!! Jeremiah tells us the result of walking in according to the ancient paths: “You will find rest for your souls.”
