Not Restraining Our Feet

 There is an old joke I like to tell. It is about a man who goes to the doctor, and he tells him that he has broken his arm in 2 places. Then, he asks the doctor what to do. The doctor replies, "Stay out of those places." Of course, it is a funny play on words, but there was wisdom in what the doctor said. We have the choice of where we will go, and we need to stay away from the places where we can get hurt or fall into serious temptation.

That is what God told His people in Jeremiah's time, too. (Jeremiah 14:10) He said that they had loved to wander, and they had not restrained their feet. Therefore, He would not accept them, and He would remember their iniquity and punish their sins. That was a stark promise to them and a clear warning to us. Let's consider what He is saying to us.

There are two ways to take what the Lord is saying here. The first way is to understand that we have the power to restrain our feet physically, so we stay away from anything or anyone who will cause us to sin in any way. The alcoholic needs to stay away from bars and places that sell alcohol, or he will likely succumb to the sin of getting drunk and further his addiction. We all need to be realistic about our weaknesses and restrain our feet from going to places that are dangerous for us.

The other way is to restrain our feet from wandering from the Lord. This is a symbolic or spiritual meaning. We need to stay close to the Lord in our daily walk with Him in prayer and Bible reading. If we feel the need to wander from these basic spiritual disciplines, we need to stop our feet from wandering away before God has to punish us from our sins. Either way we take this verse, we know we need to do our part to stay in the center of God's will. We have that choice.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Jeremiah 15-17.