Long Enough

Deuteronomy 2 has a familiar statement from Deuteronomy 1:
Deuteronomy 2:3 (ESV) ‘You have been traveling around this mountain country long enough. Turn northward

God speaks to the people and says basically that they have been standing in the same place long enough. He had said this to the previous generation who had received the Law from Moses 40 years earlier:

Deuteronomy 1:6 (ESV) “The LORD our God said to us in Horeb, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain.

Both generations came to a mountain where God met with them in special ways. Both Mountains became holy sites of significance and development. However, both mountains were stops along the journey to the ultimate destination - the Promised Land. 

We often want to dwell around the significant moments in our lives. God wants us to have them. They are great for us. We are touched, changed and moved in incredible ways when we come to the mountain of God. But we have to remember that we cannot stay there. We have to move forward. 

I think the reason is, when we don't move forward, we grow stale and our faith grows weak. Case in point, the previous generation. They perhaps stayed too long at the foot of Horeb/Sinai only to completely lack the guts to take God's Word and act on it. This second generation gets the same command from God and they won't make the same mistake. They will move. 

It brings to mind some important realities concerning faith:

1. Not moving forward is NOT living by faith. 

The Christian journey is filled with pinnacle moments where God meets us but the destination is what God has in store for us. And we cannot rest until we finish! We are the people of HOPE and ULTIMATE CONSUMMATION. We are not simply biding our time on Earth. We eagerly await our Lord from heaven to bring us home. This changes how you live. A pointless existence is unbearable. The more secular a society becomes, the more negative and nasty. But a Christian, who maintains that this Earth is not the final chapter, looks forward and lives above the normal experiences of life. 

2. Not moving forward is an invitation to sin.

I think of David who didn't go to war and subsequently fell into sin with Bathsheba. A Christian without a faith challenge will become a flesh-challenged Christian - always giving up tomorrows victories for todays dalliances. We must move into the unknown. We must embrace going where we are going to need God to show up or we are dead. If we will not serve God, we will serve the enemy's purpose. We cannot serve no one. 

3. We have to move past the different mountain experiences.

Mount Horeb/Sinai was where God gave Israel the law. Mount Seir was the home base during Israel's wilderness battle episodes. During their stay there they learned how to fight and win. Yet again, this was just another kind of mountain top experience, the ultimate goal was still rest in the land God had for them. Christian, you will be brought to many stages of growth and development in walking with the Lord. But don't hang on to the stages. They are there to shape you, not sedate you. Get up and get going to the next great move of God in your life. 

Amen.