Dropping Breadcrumbs

Set up road signs; put up guideposts. Take note of the highway, the road that you take.  Jeremiah 31:21 NIV

Hansel and Gretel dropped breadcrumbs from their pockets in order to find the way back home.  Unfortunately, birds and squirrels ate the tasty morsels, and the poor children were lost. 

 The Israelite children were lost, too.  They lived in captivity for many years.  Because of their continual disobedience and idol worship, God allowed His chosen people to be carried into exile.  He promised, however, they would return.  On this journey home, He told His people “Set up road signs; put up guideposts. Take note of the highway, 
the road that you take.  Return, O Virgin Israel, return to your towns.”  Like Hansel and Gretel, the Israelites were to mark the path towards home. 

  The marked path would help guide themselves and others back and serve as a reminder of where they had been.

 If I were living as a prisoner and was released to return home, you can bet with certainty I would take note of the highway and put up guideposts to mark my homecoming.  But, wait!  I have been living as a prisoner – a prisoner of sin.  At least, I was until my homecoming with Christ.  When I came home to Christ, I was released from that prison.  Yet, I stop and ask myself how I have marked the pathway.  Did I mark it with the breadcrumbs of Hansel and Gretel to be eaten by the woodland animals?  Or have I put up solid guideposts to permanently map my way home for others to follow?

 How about you?  If you get off of the path, will you be able to find your way back?  Take some time to take note of the highway and set up some road signs to commemorate your own journey home.