We all have mountains that prevent us from entering into all
that God has for us – our promised land. Whether it is a sickness, financial
difficulties, self-esteem issues, family brokenness, despair, lost hope.
Whatever it may be, how do we conquer the mountains in our life? How do we move
forward when all we can see is the mountain blocking our view?
I love what Moses says to the people of Israel in Deuteronomy
1:6 -7
“You have dwelt long
enough at this mountain, turn and take your journey and go to the mountains of the Amorites, to
all the neighbouring places in the plain, in the mountains and in the lowland, in
the South and on the seacoast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as
far as the great river, the River Euphrates”.
Moses tells the people of Israel, Gods chosen people, to
turn and take their journey and go. I believe to turn, speaks of the Israelites
turning away from the mountain they had been staring at for so long and choosing
to refocus on the vision put before them. If you stare at something long enough
it goes blurry and loses it clarity. It requires you to refocus and when you do
everything becomes clear once again.
Take your journey,
speaks to me of reclaiming what is rightfully yours. To take a hold of the
promises of God for your life and to not let go, requires faith and hope for
the future. It is a journey but if we lose focus on the promise sometimes we
are required to refocus and then start believing the promise afresh. The children
of Israel that Moses was speaking to were literally the children of the
Israelites who had been set free from Eygpt. They were to take the journey that
their forefathers failed to take. They were to inherit all the lands.
Vs 8 “See, I have set
the land before you; go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to your
fathers – to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – to give to them and their descendants
after them”.
To go means to take action. Once you have refocused your
vision, reclaimed your promised it is time to remove yourself from the
mountain. Start walking towards the promise land and all God has waiting for
you, the land of milk and honey and all good things. Don’t get me wrong, I know
that walking away from something, may not be physically
achievable, but you can take action by changing your thoughts to make the most of what you have, all the while
faithfully believing for the miracle.
Some mountains require us to turn, take our journey and go,
whilst other mountains require us to climb and conquer them. In vs 7 it says
that they would “go to the neighbouring places in the mountains”. In November
last year, my best friend and I spontaneously decided to climb Mt Coolum. It
was on my list of goals for last year and I really wanted to give it a go. Let
me tell you, it was a battle in my head the whole way up. The mountain I had to
turn away from, was the one of self- doubt the thoughts of “I can’t do this”!
But you know what I turned away from those thoughts, I refocused my vision
(every 10metres or so to be precise, lol) and I reclaimed my promise, that all
things are possible! The mountain I had to turn away from and ignore was
internal/mental, the mountain I had to conquer was physical.
What mountains do you need to turn away from and what
mountains do you need to conquer?! Happy journeying and climbing J
