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Remove Not The Ancient Landmark

Proverbs 22:28, “Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.

If we will pay close attention, very often, the Lord will bless us with life experiences to help us have a better understanding of His Holy Word. When I was a young child I had a high level of respect for my Grandpa Loudermilk (Benjamin Landers Loudermilk). There were many days that I spent walking close to him or just sitting on his porch listening to his life stories. He was raised and lived during the years of Depression and World War 2 and had so many stories to tell. He also had an abundance of experience that he was willing to share with his attentive grandson.

One morning I went to Papa’s house and he asked me to go walking with him. Papa had decided how he would divide his land and give it to his children for an inheritance and asked me to go walking with him and look at all the land corners and landlines. To this day, I may not be able to put my foot down on the exact spot, but I can get pretty close to where those markers are located. As we walked through the woods and up and down the hills, Papa told me that he recorded all the markers and boundaries at the Court House in Habersham County Georgia.

After my Papa passed from this life, my aunt began to build a large chicken farm on a portion of land that was given to her. She also began to build a barn on one portion of the land. Now keep in mind my daddy was, for the most part, very easy to get along with. While my aunt was building the structure, he approached my aunt and said that she was building the structure on his land. She argued by saying the survey said otherwise. One big problem, even though the corner markers had been moved, daddy still had the deed of his land, and his deed was the one recorded at the court house. Upon further investigation, my aunt conceded that daddy was right. Now daddy didn’t make her move from the place of her efforts, he just wanted her to know what happened. The deed and record at the court house had settled the argument and nothing else was ever said. Just for information, my aunt did move the structure on her own.

When considering our study verse, it is Solomon who warns his son not to be hasty to remove or move the “ancient land-mark, which thy fathers have set.” The Lord, in His Holy Word, had already commanded this not to be done and declared the strict consequences to one who took it upon themselves to do so. Deuteronomy 19:14, “Thou shalt not remove thy neighbor’s landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land that the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it.” Deuteronomy 27:17, “Cursed be he that removeth his neighbor’s landmark. And all the people shall say, Amen.” Those landmarks were not to be removed or moved.

In a spiritual sense, the Lord has set landmarks concerning the Worship Service in His kingdom (the Church). The Lord gave specific commandments to the apostles and His disciples. I’ve heard it said many times, the Lord gave us all we needed in the Church. But how often we find individuals who have new ideas for God’s Kingdom. What is this? An effort to remove or move the landmarks that our Father in heaven has set. Many would cite the world has changed through the years and the Church should change to attract them. Others may cite new ideas to reach certain age groups. But just as my daddy directed the mind of opposition to the law (the deed and what was recorded at the court house), we have the Law of God (His Holy Word) to read and know what is right and what is wrong. The Lord has given us the standard by which we can know where the “ancient landmark” should be. What’s there for us to do, but to stand in courage and declare Thus saith the Lord God of Israel. And may God give us His temporal grace to withstand in the evil day that we may be found pleasing Him in all that we do.

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