"Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your
sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in
Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people." And He said,
"My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." Exodus 33:13-14
All of us have had an experience in our lives that we
see as a "mountaintop"
experience. It is interesting that those
experiences are considered to be a part of our past … meaning we have had to
move on from those mountaintops. God
brings us to the mountain and leaves us there long enough to get our
"bearings" and then He moves us on to greater growth.
Moses was with the Children of Israel and they had been
camped by the Mountain of God for almost a year and it was time to move
on. It is always scary and hard to move
on but growth cannot occur if we do not move.
The Mountain
Behind Us … The Growing Before Us
- Growing in Understanding of God … Who Comforts Us
God brings comfort our way, not for the purpose of
making us comfortable, but to help us understand who God is in our lives. …
And He said, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give
you rest."
- Growing in Understanding of Faith … God is Our Security
Moses realized there was no realistic substitute for
God for their security. In Exodus 33:15 he says Then he said to Him, “If Your
Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.” Moses found
himself in a "crisis of faith." Would he walk by faith with God or find
security in the mountain? Faith that is
based on a mountain from yesterday may be a great memory, but it will always
leave us insecure of the today. It lacks
being a vital force in our lives in the today. God will not leave us there. He will move us off the mountain. Sometimes leaving the mountain is by choice,
sometimes by coincidence, and sometimes by crisis. However we leave the
mountain we must know that to walk on requires we by faith find our security in
our God and in a growing relationship with His Son Jesus Christ.
- Growing in Understanding of Unity … Selflessly Together
Moses & Co. would soon discover that they needed
one another. From a mountain of
selfishness to selflessness God desired to move them, as He does you and me, together
in unity. Unity is born when we identify
ourselves with God first, rather than with individuals who each have a motive
and a plan.
What mountain
are you so desperately trying to live on? Is God leading you off the mountain? Are you fighting to stay on the mountain
without God? God will lead us off the
mountain of comfort, security and self and to grow in the today. Leaving yesterday's faith to grow in our
understanding of who God is we can live by faith finding our security in Him
alone and living together in the bond of unity. But to do that we need this insight . . . "The
journey of leaving the mountain can be just as sweet as the journey to the
mountain top." Don’t
discount the journey. We focus so hard
on the destination that we miss some beautiful scenery along the way. There are some rough and rocky places too,
and we may even fall down, but it is in the journey many times that we find our
purpose; the lesson God wants to teach us.
The mountaintop is for pleasure and joy, praise and glory of the One who
brought us every step of the way. But
the journey is where we gain strength, hope, and courage, and learn some of the
greatest lessons of life.
It is good to have an end to
journey toward; but it is the journey that matters in the end.
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway
Scripture to
Claim:
…but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. 2 peter 3:18
…but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. 2 peter 3:18
