May 15 #3 The Muddy Road

May 15

The Muddy Road Detour

Ps 33:12  Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD… 

The words “Road Impassible” seemed like a challenge to my 22 year old brain as I drove around the barricade.  The monster that had devoured the gravel road was a mud hole about 100 feet long and from one flooded ditch to the other. Having little knowledge and no wisdom I floored the gas pedal. I downshifted to second about half way across and somehow made it to the other side and firm gravel.  It would be at a later time I would pay the consequences for being stupid about mud holes.  

The verse for today made me think about the founding of the United States and our slide away from Biblical values. That led me to recall an old song about the trouble you will have if you ignore warning signs. You may not remember “There’s a Muddy Road Ahead”, a song from October 1945 so here are the lyrics.

Detour there's a muddy road ahead

detour paid no mind to what it said
Detour oh the bitter things I find

should have read that detour sign 

The verses in this song bemoan choices that were made and wishing they had heeded the warning signs. The message is bad consequences follow bad decisions. There are multiple examples of bad decision making, and bad consequences, in the Bible.

Ge 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

We know the results of this encounter between Eve and the serpent in the garden of Eden. Eve had a choice to make. Believe the serpent and what he said or believe God and what He said. She made a bad decision and received bad consequences.

The old testament is filled with stories of nations that forgot God or openly rebelled against Him. They ignored what God had commanded. That applied to His chosen people, Israel as well.

The book of Deuteronomy can be best understood as a coach reviewing the past and giving last instructions to the team before they go to the finals. He will not be able to go with them and is urging them to remember what they have learned and how to be successful. So Moses reviews their past successes and failures. He reminds them of what they must do to be victorious. The foundational idea can be found in the 28^th chapter where we find 9 blessings for Israel in the first 8 verses. The blessings will result from their obedience.

De 28:9 …if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways.

In Deuteronomy 28:15 Moses warns Israel what will happen if they do not follow what God has required.

De 28:58 If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book…

Centuries before it happened Moses predicts they will be taken into captivity. This is not some heathen nation full of creeps, disgusting sinners and blasphemous God haters, he is talking about God’s chosen people, Israel.

De 28:49 The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth;

a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand;

That is exactly what happened.  

2Ki 17:18 Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only. 

God used the ungodly Assyrians to take Israel captive and disperse them so completely they would never recover and be restored. Jews today do not know which tribe they came from. They had been warned countless times. “Do not turn off this road”. When they did stray there were more warning signs “Get back on the main road”  “Dead end road, turn around”  Generation after generation they ignored God’s warnings. They grew weary of the Main road and thought they knew a shortcut to happiness with fatal results.

Today in the United States there are a multitude of people who want to rewrite our colonial history and omit God. They say the Pilgrims came as a business venture and the first thanksgiving was due to their being thankful to the Indians for their help. The first words of the Mayflower Compact are “In the name of God, Amen.” Which exposes the ungodly agenda of the people who write grade school history books.  

Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD…

There is insufficient room in this devotional (or a dozen books) to list all the ways our nation is trying to rewrite God out of our history, prohibit the display of Christian symbols, and legislate God out of the future. Valedictorians may not use the name of Christ in their graduation speeches. The ten commandments (the fundamental law of God) cannot be displayed in our courts of law. Easter and Christmas have been commercialized past recognition. Now they commemorate a rabbit and eggs or a fat guy in a red suit who is omniscient (knows when you are sleeping, etc)

Enough doom and gloom. While our nation (as a people) stray from God and His word, we as individuals can still be blessed.  Remember Psalm 1? “Blessed is the man…” Our devotional thought for today is that people and nations can be blessed. They just need to heed the warning signs and stay on the right road.

     Today people are seeking happiness and keep coming up with shortcuts to get there. There are many ungodly shortcuts to happiness, but they are all dead end roads. That is partly because many people seek a happy destination and do not realize happiness is a method of travel. One sure way to travel happily is found in many Bible verses, such as; 

   Ps 144:15 …happy is that people, whose God is the LORD.

Blessed is the man (double happy) who follows this path.

Ps 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD;

and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season;

his leaf also shall not wither;

and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.