The Highway of Holiness
When I was growing up, my dad often picked up hitchhikers and drove them some distance. It was a day and a time when doing that was not so dangerous as it is today. I have, over the years, done my share of "hitchhiker hand-out".
Now, consider the message of the hitchhiker to those who are traveling by. The thumb in the air is a signal representing a much larger message. The hitchhiker is saying, "I want you to let me ride with you while you pay for the gas, the car, the insurance, the repairs, and whatever else is needed to keep the car on the road. I will take no responsibility for the provisions."
The Lord has a highway. Isaiah called it the “Highway of Holiness” (Isaiah 35:8). It was a highway on which the unclean will not walk (Isaiah 35:8). It is a highway on which there will be no beast that will be able to harm them (Isaiah 35:9). The redeemed and the ransomed will be on it with joy and gladness for sorrow and sighing shall flee away (Isaiah 35:10).
Isaiah spoke about that Highway five times. He said it was a “highway for the remnant of His people” (Isaiah 11:16). He declared that one was coming who would announce the coming of the One who would lead people on that highway (Isaiah 40:3). He said that the highway would be elevated (Isaiah 49:11). The Lord commissioned Isaiah to begin repairing the highway because the people are returning from the captivity in Babylon (Isaiah 62:10).
John the baptizer was the one coming who would lead the way for Jesus who would lead the people onto the highway of salvation (Matthew 3:3). The Lord’s highway was not meant to be traveled by limousine with all of the comforts it provides; it was meant for each one to travel with his own energy and effort.
However, like those hitchhikers we all see from time-to-time, there are those who want to travel on the Lord’s highway as hitchhikers. They even seem to want to be carried by limousine to God’s final promised destination. They want an easy ride to a comfortable building and get a comfortable seat every Sunday. They seem to treat the time of worship as a spa date for them to feel better for the coming week. And, they want the comfort of the limousine as they live the Christian life every day, even complaining when their life is not as easy as they would like to be.
Others refuse to ride on the Lord’s Highway. They have “turned, every one, to his own way…” (Isaiah 53:6). What might once have been a faithful drive on the Lord’s highway has turned into an excursion into the wilderness. They have left the Highway of Holiness for the pathway of personal pleasure.
“Return, O backsliding children…” (Jeremiah 3:14) calls the Lord of the Highway. Come back to the safety of the highway He has designed. Be responsible for your own travel and seek the promised destination at the end.
— Mike Johnson
