“In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near!” For he is the one spoken through the prophet Isaiah, who said: “A voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way for the L-rd; make His paths straight!’”Matthew 3:1-3

Before I came to know the L-rd in a saving way, I had mapped out a plan for my life. I could show you on paper where I was, and where I wanted to be. I had drawn a straight line to my dreams of success. Let’s just say my plan didn't hold water.

Jeremiah 2:13, “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”

When John came preaching in the desert, there were perilous times for Israel. Both the Romans and Israel’s religious leaders were oppressing the people. In terms of a pendulum, Roman culture swung way over to the left. It was worldly and liberal. Jewish religious culture had swung too far to the right. Void of grace, it was fanatically religious.

John was letting everyone know that G_d had another path…the straight & narrow. This “third way” was very different from the other two paths, traveling in opposite directions.Hence, it demanded complete repentance. Soon to be led by Yeshua, this path would lead to deliverance…and it is the only one to do so.

In Jewish culture, there is a saying: “Follow your rabbi so closely that you’re covered in his dust.”

Whose dust are you covered in? Would it be the dust of the world, which promises liberty without accountability? Are you covered in the dust of some oppressive religious pursuit, which has demanded your discipline without allowing a personal relationship with G_d?

Have you decided to follow Yeshua so closely that you’re covered in His “dust”, as it were? Or, have you chosen your own path that left Yeshua in a cloud of dust?

~Steve Wiggins, Shuvah Yisrael 
Daily Devotional, Monday April 22, 2013