Scripture Daily

Context No. 2064 of 4322 · Deuteronomy

Context · Reflection

Deuteronomy 1:1-8: in context

1These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suf, between Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. 2It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea. 3In the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, Moses spoke to the children of Israel according to all that the LORD had given him in commandment to them, 4after he had struck Sihon the king of the Amorites who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan who lived in Ashtaroth, at Edrei. 5Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses began to declare this law, saying, 6“The LORD our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying, ‘You have lived long enough at this mountain. 7Turn, and take your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all the places near there: in the Arabah, in the hill country, in the lowland, in the South, by the seashore, in the land of the Canaanites, and in Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. 8Behold, I have set the land before you. Go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to your fathers—to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob—to give to them and to their offspring after them.’”

As Moses begins to recount Israel's history, he recalls a word God spoke at Horeb, the mountain of Sinai, where they had camped a long while. The LORD our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, you have stayed long enough at this mountain. Turn, and take your journey; go to the land I have set before you and possess it. There came a time when the season of resting at the mountain was over, and God called them to move forward, to leave the place of pause and go on to what he had set before them.

God's word, you have stayed long enough at this mountain, marks a moment worth pondering. Sinai had been a place of encounter, where God gave the law and met with his people; it was right to camp there for a season. But there came a time when the season was over, when to remain would be to linger where God had only meant them to pause, and God called them to move forward: turn, take your journey, go and possess the land I have set before you. The resting place was not the destination; it was a stage on the way, and God called them on from it. There is a word here for us about the seasons of our own journey. God gives us places of rest and encounter, seasons that are good and right for a time. But some of these are meant to be stages, not destinations; and there can come a time when God calls us to move on, when to remain would be to settle permanently where he only meant us to pause. We can grow comfortable at the mountain, reluctant to leave a good and familiar place, wanting to stay where we are settled rather than go forward into the unknown God sets before us. And God's word may be, you have stayed long enough here; turn, and take your journey; go on to what I have set before you. This calls for a readiness to move forward at God's call rather than clinging to a resting place. The destination is ahead, the land God has set before us to possess; and the life of faith is a journey, not a permanent encampment. Forgetting what lies behind, Paul says, I press on toward the goal. There is a time to rest at the mountain, and a time to hear God say, you have stayed long enough; turn and go forward. This searches whether we are willing to move on when God calls, or whether we cling to the familiar resting place. God calls his people forward, from the mountain to the land, from the place of pause to the thing he has set before them; and the readiness to leave a good resting place and go on at his word is part of following him on the journey he has for us.

Have I grown comfortable at some mountain, a good and familiar resting place, reluctant to move on even when God may be calling me forward into what he has set before me, and can God's word to Israel, you have stayed long enough at this mountain, turn and take your journey, make me ready to leave the place of pause when God calls and go on into what he has for me, following him on the journey rather than clinging to the resting place?

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