DEVOTION: "Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set."(Proverbs 22:28)

  "Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set."(Proverbs 22:28)

"Ancient Landmarks"   The word "ancient" means "concealed in eternity past".  The verse as a whole is a reference to the foundational doctrines of the word of God.  Have you ever heard someone at church say, "we need to get back to the old landmarks"?   Unfortunately that is not at all what this  verse is talking about because it doesn't tell us to "go back" to anything.  It says that we are not to "remove" the ancient landmarks and ancient is not a reference to time but eternity.  Our word "old" is a word of comfort that represents, in our human emotion, a place in time when  we felt comfortable with our environment.  The Word of God always tells us to move forward into the future, into the vision and destiny that He has for us. It's a foundation that we must work from to fulfill the will of God for our lives. When we don't have a solid foundation to stand on, we are always wanting to go back to that comfortable place in time that we remember as the "good place".  The word "set" means "to do, make or SHEW"!  You have to be called, anointed and inspired by the Holy Spirit to be able to reveal these  "Landmarks", the truths of God's Word. It is a spiritual book and it's often easier to say, "Lets get back to the old" rather than moving into the future by faith. "For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven."(Psalm 119:89). We often take comfort in our past experiences  because our past is a place of familiarity rather than the uncharted territory that we are yet to conquer.  A great man by the name of Moses died in a wilderness with two million walking dead people because he couldn't leave the dead. God had told him to move on but he was convinced he could fix these walking dead, but you can't fix people that are uncomfortable in the Presence of the Voice of God!   He kept going BACK to the people he was emotionally attached to instead of crossing the Jordan River into the land that flows with milk and honey. If you  are on a journey and you are off by one degree, you will miss your destination by miles!  If you are traveling at a slow speed and are always thinking back to a comfortable place in time, you will never arrive at the place called destiny.  You will always blame your failure on something or someone else, instead of allowing God's Spirit to navigate your life.  "But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!"(Matthew 6:23)   When the "light" is "dark", how great IS thy darkness??     It's a bit scary if you think about it, maybe that is why Jesus said,  "If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.  And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given.  For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath."(Mark 4:23-15)   "Take heed what you hear", What you hear could be off by one degree and you'll never reach your intended destination and the sad thing is, you'll never even know it because what you perceive to be light is really your darkness.  Watch your step and make sure you are following the Truth not Tradition.


Scott L. Boatner