LEAVE THE MOUNTAIN
This past weekend my nephew Todd was married in Lancaster, PA. It was a beautiful wedding! And it was a BLAST to be with my sisters and their families.
We all rented a “tourist home” in Willow Street. This home was huge and meticulously clean. But it was also a through back to the 70’s. Evidentially the owner had been raised in this home. Her parents continued to live there after she left home. Her father, Snavely, passed away suddenly in the home in November of 1998. Her mother continued to live there until 2005. How do I know all of this? The walls were filled with memorabilia. Pictures, notes (lots of those) and even Snavely’s obituary were hung for all to see and honor. We had so much fun reading all of this. It felt like the home had been a wonderful place to be raised; that many good (and probably some difficult) momentous occasions were being remembered in every room. But the owner (and the wall paper) never moved on from there.
“You have stayed long enough at this mountain.” (Deuteronomy 1:6) God spoke these words to Moses and the children of Israel after they had spent time at Horeb (Mt. Sinai). Do you remember the events that occurred at Mt. Sinai? God gave Moses the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai. Moses spent 40 days on Mt. Sinai in fellowship with God. The children of Israel remained at the bottom waiting for Moses to return. The children of Israel had once again lost sight of God and His leading! When Moses returned, he destroyed the original stone that contained the Ten Commandments! Moses went back up to the mountain and again carved the commandments into stone. There were wonderful lessons learned at the mountain. There were difficult lessons learned. Lots of good memories! A tremendous foundation was laid (the commandments). But God doesn’t want us to get stuck at one place in our lives. The children of Israel had stayed long enough. It was time to move on! Had they not left the mountain, they never would have entered the Promised Land!
I think I get stuck at the mountain every once in a while. It is time to move towards the Promised Land! Remember the difficult and the wonderful lessons of the mountain. But carry them with you to the Promised Land!
