“Set up road markers for yourself; make yourself guideposts; consider well the highway, the road by which you went” (Jeremiah 31:21).
When our Lord so graciously and mercifully delivers us from a situation of OUR own making, we need to do an honest evaluation of the choices we made that led us, step-by-step, decision-by-decision down the road that led to our enslavement. Be it drugs, alcohol, compulsive over eating, excessive spending, etc., we CAN set up road markers and guideposts that signal we are about to place ourselves on a pathway that will lead us, once again, astray and back into the bondage from which we have been set free.
We MUST choose to make a u-turn and head in the opposite direction. The company we keep, the places we go, the activities in which we engage, all need to be closely examined as to whether or not they are a contributing factor that feeds our weaknesses and influences our choices. In order for verse 25, “For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish” to become a reality to us, we have to implement discipline and a ‘new’ way of living life which can only be accomplished through the strength and empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
