Tag: Jeremiah

A Burning Heart – A Sonnet

A Burning Heart – A Sonnet

O that within me dwells a burning heart
That blazes like a bonfire on the shore
When twilight comes the purple colors soar
As lemon rays of daylight soon depart —
O that the light find I when darkness starts
And warmth when winter chills me to the core
With light and warmth I could not ask for more
For of life’s miracles take I a part.

O stand and see and for the old paths ask
Walk on in paths that lead to the good way
Beside you will be Truth, the Way, the Life
To give your soul the rest in midst of strife
Your heart will burn with love in night and day,
Through seasons, light and warmth to guide your tasks.

D. G. Vachal © 2025

Thus says the Lord: Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ – Jeremiah 6:16 NKJV

Image by Clayton Holmes @Unsplash

“The Old Paths, The Good Way”


The Old Paths, The Good Way

When we are in a state of great distress and perplexity, it is difficult to determine what action to take when there are many different paths to choose from. Thousands of years ago, the kingdom of Judah was in such a state, finding itself at a crossroad, facing peril and destruction which could only be averted by wise and prompt action.

Out of the clamor of counseling voices came the word of the Prophet Jeremiah:  “Thus says the Lord: Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls.”1

Let us consider the Prophet’s instruction:

First, stand in the ways and see.  This means deliberation.  When at a dilemma, it is not the time to rush into action which may result in choosing the wrong path.  A crisis, a turning point is the time for prudence and forethought.

Second, ask for the old paths, what is the good way.  This means guidance. Let history serve as a guide:  the nation of Judah had won victory and experienced peace and prosperity in former times; therefore, inquire of the past how these blessings were attained.  Search for the trodden road that led to safety and happiness.

Third, walk therein. This means action.  After deliberation and having discerned the guiding light, proceed ahead upon the chosen path. In doing so, Jeremiah told  the people of Judah, you will find rest for your souls.

Almost five centuries later, Jesus Christ addressed, not a nation, but individual men and women:  the weary and heavy-laden, and once again he mentioned the concept of soul-rest in the same manner as the Prophet Jeremiah :

 “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”2

Christ’s prescription for finding rest for one’s soul is to come to Him, to choose the path that leads to Him, proclaiming that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.  A new and a living way, but yet the most ancient of pathways— a pathway that leads to the Rock of Ages.

1  Jeremiah 6:11, King James Version
2  Matthew 11:28-29, New King James Version

*** Reference: Henry Van Dyke, 1903, “Joy and Power”, http://www.gutenberg.net/1/0/3/9/10395, pp.72-92
*** Photography by Rovakovski


Delusions of Garlic

“Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: “Who will give us meat to eat?   We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic”  Numbers 11:4-5 NKJV

The Bible presents the nature of mankind as age-old and universal.  In spite of the phenomenal achievements of the modern age, human nature has remained virtually the same since the fall of Adam.  Science, economic progress, education, the ideals of humanism, and all the other remarkable feats of the human race still leave this world in as miserable condition as it was thousands of years ago.  All of these advances have not addressed man’s underlying, fundamental dilemma.

At the very root of the problem, the Bible says, is the heart of man.  Jeremiah the prophet lamented, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

Contrary to what humanists believe, the Bible demonstrates that the very nature of man is not basically good, but evil.  Knitted into the fiber of mankind’s nature is the system and structure of sin and its corresponding traits of lust, passion and craving.  This course of sin is so powerful and overwhelming that it grips and enslaves the human heart of natural man.  Education, self-will, and intelligence cannot tame it: sin pervades and masters the very depths of one’s being.

The children of Israel illustrate this lust, this craving in the wilderness, after they fled to freedom from Pharaoh and the Egyptians. Their memories became selective; the craving for the exotic foods in the land they fled from was so intense that they forgot the sufferings and despair they underwent as slaves: the oppression, the arduous labor, the harsh sun, the hunger from lack of food. They wanted to go back to the very place that enslaved them, hankering after the watermelons, the cucumber, the onions and the garlic that they probably ate meagerly as slaves, and not “freely” as they claimed. The craving was so intense that nothing else mattered, not even their freedom.

Sin perverts, creates a duality in man.  On the one hand we behold all the impressive, awe-inspiring achievements; on the other hand we survey the towering garbage heap of  human failures.    No one is exempt from this condition. It made Paul cry out when he realized the gravity of it all:  “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24)

Sin eventually leads to death, physical and spiritual.  It hastens the physical, and elongates the spiritual into eternity.

There is an answer, the only answer to this terrible malady called sin.  In His great love and compassion, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, so that through Him we can be delivered from the tyranny of sin and death and be born again into a new kind of life: everlasting life.  But we must first recognize this oppressive nature of sin within us and yield ourselves to God and His way of salvation. Until then, we will forever be restless, unsure, and live in constant contradictions within ourselves, for as one former sinner St. Augustine prayed: “Thou hast made us for Thyself and restless is our heart until it comes to rest in Thee”.