New Voice - Old Words
Joshua 1:7-8a
“Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, …”
Imagine the apocalypse or the ice age that would ensue if the earth suddenly turned on its axis to the right or to the left. Imagine the pile-up that would ensue if you drove down the interstate today and decided to suddenly steer the car left into oncoming traffic or right into the guardrail. Imagine the cacophony that would resound if an orchestral pianist, during a performance of Pachelbel’s Canon in D, suddenly shifted his hands down one key to the left and played in C, or up to the right to play in E, while the rest of the instrumentalists followed the musical score. Talk about chaos! If planets in a solar system aren’t careful to run their precise course, the system itself collapses along with all living things within it. If drivers aren’t careful to stay in their lanes and obey traffic laws, roadways will look like war zones. If violinists and flautists and pianists aren’t careful to play precisely their part in a symphony, if they’re fast or slow, flat or sharp, or out of key to the left or to the right, then all hell breaks loose.
The Law of the LORD is life’s axis. Follow the set course and life will have diverse seasons marked by beauty and bounty—spring meadows full of tulips and summer rivers rushing with new rains and autumn forests ablaze with florescent hues and winter mountains glistening from fresh snowfall. The testimony of God is a clearly marked thoroughfare. Stay between the lines of Genesis-Revelation and the pilgrimage through death’s dark valleys will be a true progression. The statutes of Providence are a musical score. When we, the instrumentalists, follow the rhythms of righteousness, keeping our eyes fixed on our Conductor’s hand, and are content to just play our part, then the magnum opus of Redemption’s song that holds all things together will emanate through our lives.
Keep following that straight and narrow road today, friend: the one marked by the unfailing words and deeds of our Shepherd-King.