This week, I’ve ended up reading Psalms 84, 85, and 86. I wrote about Psalm 84 a few days ago in a teaching called “A Day in Your Courts.” There was a particular line in there that I highlighted in the picture I posted it with it that has become a running theme through this week now. It is Psalm 84:5 and states, “Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, Whose heart is set on pilgrimage.” Pilgrimage is a special word we don’t hear all the time. Dennis and I are reading Marco Polo- the Italian explorer that walked from Italy to China in the 1200s. You could say he went on a pilgrimage. As amazing a feat as that was, the pilgrimage in this psalm is manifold more important. This pilgrimage is the journey through a life leading to Zion or heaven. A heart set on this pilgrimage is set on God.
Sometimes the journey takes us through landscapes lush with fruits, water and Spirit, and blessings. Other times, we walk through deserts and valleys fraught with darkness and evil and suffering. Sometimes we stroll with a skip in our step and others we just barely manage to put one foot in front of the other. Sometimes, we see goal posts and know which way to go. Other times, we get disoriented and lose direction or we hit a fork and struggle with which path to take. Without a compass, we may never find our true north. We may never reach the highway to holiness that leads us home to heaven.
For all the conscience God gifted me with in this life, I took the wrong paths over and over. I never even gave thought to dying and where I might end up. In fact I didn’t even give thought to what kind of future I was building in many of the decisions I ended up making and risks I ended up taking. I never had God. I never had the Bible or His Word. True His conscience could have and should have been enough. But faced with my fallen evil humanity and my ignorance to true wisdom, I made many foolish choices I wish now that I hadn’t. Then at 33, I realized God is real and all that one can fathom of Him is true. He is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. He can prove it all to you through personal experience at any point, as He did to me. He snapped me out of my blind reality, denying His existence. Furthermore, He woke up to one crucial fact I never anticipated. Jesus is God. I realized this before I ever knew the meaning of His death and cross. Before I knew about my sin and need for His forgiveness. I was so oblivious.
I knew one thing. I need to learn who He is and the Bible can teach me. I started reading the gospels and meditating on the things He taught. I tried to wrap my head around His parables and truths. It challenged me more than any study I had ever done. But it was fascinating and drew me in so powerfully. I had faith. I knew these things He spoke were Truth and I had to understand them. I needed His Truth or I would be lost in life. He was my hope. Because being lost is being without Him and without Hope. His truth was the anchor to my soul. For all the sin I carry still, even though it be in my past, His Word is still all my hope of making it home. It is my guide. I learn daily how to put one foot in front of the other in my path.
I just made an artwork about this, a token of gratitude to Him for the gift of His Word in my life. It shows a famous psalm. Psalm 119:105 says, “Your Word is a light to my feet, a lamp to my path.” In this fallen world, where we may walk through darkness and wonder how to go forward, needing our Shepherd whether we know Him or not, He is our light and our leader. In the book of John, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Those who follow Me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” John also said, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Jesus is the Word and the Light. Psalm 85:13 says, “Righteousness will go before Him, and shall make His footsteps our pathway.”
So not only is His Word and truth and wisdom our guide, light our path, but He goes before us with such Righteousness that it precedes His body!!! It emanates so far from Him that it goes before Him and guides Him in perfect truth and holiness. As we follow Him, we place one foot in front of the other, filling His footprints with our faithful pursuit of Him. Staying with Him, not wandering away. Focused on the light He shines on our path to know where to place our next step. In His life on earth, He didn’t just preach. He didn’t just sacrifice Himself and heal others. He literally walked through this world revealing every intimate detail of how God Himself would be as a man on earth for all to see and to learn and imitate. To each that sought Him out, He had one invitation: Follow Me. For His disciples He had one command: Follow Me.
He said those who obey His commands love Him. He said apart from abiding in Him as the vine, we could bear no fruit. Following Him is our purpose. Following Him is true faith. Following Him is our Hope. Following Him is the pilgrimage that takes us Home. He lived life among us in this world as Emmanuel, God with us, so we could see what it means to follow Him. For the humanity He called to eternal life and a home in heaven, He left His Word so that we can follow that life we weren’t blessed to witness. To each believer He grants the gift of the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth and help us to follow Him home.
So all that said, guess what Dennis ends up preaching today? Walking in the steps of Jesus on our pilgrimage through life! I kid you not! And what passage of scripture did he focus on? Mark 10:17-27 called “Jesus counsels the Rich Young Ruler.” It starts with Jesus “going out on the road,” walking along His path with Righteousness going before Him. As He is walking, “one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, ‘Good teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?’” So Jesus then told him he must keep the commandments: no adultery, murder, theft, lying, and honor your father and mother. He said, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.” Then in verse 21, it says, “Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, ‘One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross and follow Me.”
He shows us important aspects of what it means to follow Him. We must travel light. We cannot be burdened by this material world and driven by greed or possessions. We must share of the gifts He blesses us with with those less fortunate. We must bear our cross faithfully. And finally, we take one step at a time behind Him and learn from Him throughout our lives. We see there is a cost and a sacrifice in following Him.
This rich young ruler suddenly realized that he was not prepared to lay down his life. He didn’t run into Jesus, he ran to Him. He didn’t just ask Him a question. He knelt before Him. He honored Him with reverence, surely at least wondering if He might be the Messiah sent of God. Perhaps he even thought He was the Son of God, as some did. He knew this: this Man has the answer to eternal life. Having no idea about the cross, faith, and the New Covenant of His blood yet, Jesus simply called Him to come and follow Him. Verse 22 then says of him, “But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”
So too, as we count the costs, we must examine our “possessions.” Perhaps they are material. Perhaps it is an attachment to some kind of pleasure or vice. Perhaps it is an attachment to certain relationships you would have to let go of. Perhaps you may not want to give up your particular values, beliefs, or politics. Perhaps it is more comfortable to deny the fact that we will all give an account for our lives one day before His throne so you would rather not believe. Perhaps you are satisfied just “being a good person” without truly considering the sacrifice He made for you. Perhaps you are scared and have trouble giving up your fear or trusting in His love. All these possessions can lead us away, even sorrowfully if we have a longing for God and for heaven like this rich young ruler.
If you think there is no hope at that point, look what Jesus says next: Verse 23 says, “Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, ‘How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!’ And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, ‘Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’” This shows us how difficult it can be to “give up our riches.” But it is also a warning. How much more worth is there in the kingdom of God! It is always worth the sacrifice. Count your costs true, but keep in your heart this truth: God is worth more. Being with and beside Him is worth all.
He loves us so much that He gave all just to invite us to follow Him. He left His glory in heaven to live with us in a fallen world and show us His way and teach us His words. He will not just leave you stuck with your riches that you can’t give up in your own strength. Listen to verses 26 and 27: “And they (the disciples) were greatly astonished (at His saying about the camel), saying among themselves, ‘Who then can be saved?’ But Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.’” This the precious promise of God.
If you are rich with burdens you can’t give up, ask God for help. He can make a way where it is not possible for you alone. He sought you out on the cross. He called you to follow Him in His Word. Cry out to Him in faith and let Him respond in His unique way for you. Seek to know Him. Study Him. Pray. Pursue Him faithfully and He will make a way for you to join Him in the pilgrimage Home. Pray Psalm 86:11 which says, “Teach me Your way, O LORD, that I may walk in Your truth; give me an undivided heart to revere your name.” His Word says His name is “Faithful and True.” So let us pray in trust that He will make a way for us, for with Him, all things are possible. Let us set our hearts on this pilgrimage and follow Him home.