Remember the Way Home

When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the LORD your God and obey his voice. Deuteronomy 4:30

As I spoke recently to a junior high and high school assembly, I remembered back to my own junior high when an inmate from the local penitentiary came to speak to my class. It was one of those scared-straight talks, in which this withered, life-scarred old man told us of the miseries of his years in prison. Do not do as I have done. I found it more interesting than civics class, but I also believed that I wasn’t in need of his message. I simply knew that I was never going to struggle with alcohol or drugs, and I certainly was never going to engage in such ridiculous, self-destructive, addictive behavior.

Looking back, that inmate’s message wasn’t very helpful for me because I just wasn’t in a place where I could see my need for his warnings. Little did I know. More helpful though, was my parent’s instruction on where to turn when I did struggle. I can’t imagine that they had any idea of the disasters that lay ahead of me back then, but growing up, they taught me that in my trials, I must return to God. Remember the way home.

That is the message of Moses to his people in today’s passage. You will struggle. You will fail. You will make yourselves miserable. In your misery, return to God. In your repentance, he will rescue you, saving you from yourselves. Moses could have naively instructed the Israelites simply never to wander from God, but he knew better. He knew they’d get lost and when they did, he wanted them to remember the way home.

As my parents instilled this message in me, this is the message I desire to pass on to my children. I’d love for them to never struggle and to never fail, but I know better. We all struggle. We all fail. What matters most, is our response. When drowning in our self-inflicted misery, we must remember where to turn. For the LORD your God is a merciful God (Deuteronomy 4:31). It is in returning to God that we are saved from ourselves. Remember the way home. This is a lesson for all of us.