Your Improvement is In Your Movement
Deut. 1:6 “The Lord our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying: ‘You have dwelt long enough at this mountain. 7 Turn and take your journey
It is in the 11th month of the 40th year of the children of Israel journey through the wilderness. Moses is reviewing the journeys of the children of Israel and interpreting for them what has taken place. The adults of the generation that left Egypt were dead because of their sins of disobedience and unbelief, except for Joshua and Caleb. The new generation needed to have the law interpreted for them in the light of the 38 years experience in the wilderness. He is preparing the new generation to enter the land, and he is rehearsing the experiences of their fathers so that they may profit from, rather than repeat the same mistakes.
He wants to remind them that the reason they were in a position to enter the Promised Land was because God told them to move from Mt. Horeb or Mt. Sinai. It was there that he told them “you have been here long enough” now it is time to head towards the Promised Land.
They left Mt. Horeb, and went through many dangers, toils, and snares, many trials and temptations, through many adversities and adversaries, through many in house and out house fighting. Yet, here they stood on the brink of the Promised Land that God had promised their forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Moses is reminding them that the reason they had gotten this far is, because they left the mountain.
This mountain was a landmark for the children of Israel. This mountain had become precious to them. This is the place that they camped at when the first left Egypt for about 11 months. It was at this mountain that Moses received the 10 commandments. It was at this mountain that the people heard the terrible and frightening voice of God himself. It was on this mountain that Moses had face to face conversations with God.
This mountain was meaningful to Moses and the masses. This mountain was their sacred center, their safe place, their sanctuary. This mountain was a symbol of strength, sanctuary, security, and safety. But God told them to move because you have been here at this mountain long enough now it is time to go to other mountains in other places.
What God wants to get across to some of us in the New Year is that God is in the moving business. The purpose of hiring a moving company when you move is because they supply you with all that is necessary to get you from where you are to where you want to be. That is the purpose and concept of moving to get you from where you are to where you want to be. So God has to sometimes move us from where we are to get us where he wants us to be.
Moving should be on our minds all the time. None of us should be satisfied where we are in life. Life is not a giant parking lot where we park and chill. Life is a journey and we must steady move ahead or forward. Heb. 12:1 says “let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” and Phil 3:14 “forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.”
We ought to be moving closer in our relationships with our church family, moving closer in our marital relationships, moving towards financial freedom, moving towards spiritual maturity, moving from complacency to commitment, moving from tipping to tithing, moving from the audience to being part of the army, moving from ignorance to intelligence, moving from test to triumph, moving from disobedience to obedience, moving from mediocrity to mastery, moving from fear to faith.
Let’s move from the mountain of 2023. Our improvement is in our movement.