The Way
Do you ever have a season where one theme or topic just keeps showing up everywhere? For me, this summer, it’s been the concept of “the way,” the theme of the Christian life as a road we are traveling on.
It started with reading Waymaker by Ann Voskamp - who is exactly the author to read if you want to see the symbolism and imagery in every little thing.
(Also if you want to feel like giving up as a writer because you will never be able to use words the way she does, but that’s beside the point here…)
In it, she outlines what she calls a “SACRED way,” which is an acronym for a method to reorient yourself to following God. She talks about how following the narrow road doesn’t necessarily mean always going perfectly straight, but being willing to “re-route” and keep turning back toward God anytime you go off course. And I don’t know about you, but I go off course at least ten times a day and need every possible reminder to just keep coming back to His grace.
(I won’t try to say any more about that because like I said - I can’t begin to use words the way she does, so if you want to know more just get the book.)
Anyway, at about the same time I was talking to some friends who were reading Pilgrim’s Progress and it made me think I should re-read it. Same concept: the metaphor of being a pilgrim, following the narrow way to eternal life.
And then my Bible reading plan took me through Isaiah, which has a lot of the same imagery. 30:15 says, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” It’s that same “returning” and “rerouting” back to the right way that Waymaker talked about - and how stillness (quietness and trust) are part of how we bring our hearts and minds back toward God.
Further down in Isaiah 30, it says “And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.” Some of the imagery later on in the passage makes it seem like it’s talking about after the second coming of Christ, but the idea of a voice in our ears telling us which way to go sounds a lot like the Holy Spirit, Who was sent by Jesus as our Helper to remind us of His words. (John 14:26)
As if all that wasn’t enough, this section of Isaiah concludes in 35:8-10 by talking about “a highway…called the Way of Holiness.” A highway that goes through a desert that’s suddenly bursting with flowers and flowing with streams, where the redeemed and ransomed walk singing and rejoicing into Zion.
But as beautiful as all these metaphors are, if we stop there we could believe that the Way to eternal life is something we have to do, and the only path to eternal life is to keep ourselves on the path. But in Isaiah 40, “the way” is used a little differently: it talks about “preparing the way of the LORD.” A reminder that ultimately we are not making our way to God, He makes a way for us and comes to get us.
And His coming was in Jesus, Who said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Because like every other metaphor in Scripture, this one ends with Jesus. And finding eternal life is not so much about doing all the right things to stay on track, but keeping our eyes on the One who is the Way Himself.