Matt Adams speaks to the importance of getting out of your comfort zone and taking the journey the Father has put before us.

-Transcript-

I was reading in the early chapters of Deuteronomy when God grabbed me by the ear and re-directed my attention. Moses is speaking to Israel, and the first thing that he does is remind them of the Word of YHWH at Horeb: “You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Turn and take your journey…” Yeah. That hit different. It was a clarion call to the long-standing struggles and places of disobedience in my own life. “You have stayed long enough at this mountain How long are we going to work on this? How long is it going to take you to trust me? I’ve got new scenery, new blessings, new growth, and new relationships waiting on you. You’ve been toying with this long enough.”

But I like my mountains. The scenery is familiar. I’m comfortable with the sights. I’m comfortable with the smells. I’m…comfortable, and that’s dangerous. When we become comfortable in our struggles, when disobedience is easily ignored, our lives get stagnant and the voice of God gets distant. In the best of cases we, like Peter, follow after God and His Word, but we do it from far off. In the worst… well, our relationship with the Father goes from distant to non-existent and our lives become our own little slice of Hell on earth. (Trust me on this one. I walked away from God into addiction – Hell is an apt descriptor.) Anger. Lust. Gossip. Backbiting. Guilt. Putting anything and everything before God. “You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Turn and take your journey…”

“Turn and take your journey…” This is where things become more difficult. Though it is a different Hebrew word than presented in this passage, there is another word that means (and is often translated as) “to turn.” It’s the word we also see translated as “repent.” We have spent long enough staring at the same mountains in our lives, never growing past our weaknesses into the strength of the Father. We can see new places, but we must repent, we must turn, and that’s a step that Papa WILL NOT take for us. WE have to turn. WE have to commit to the journey of sanctification. WE have to be willing to give one of two answers when God says, “Jump”: “Yes” or “How High?”

Don’t be afraid. Let go of whatever it is you’re holding on to… Papa’s waiting on you to turn and take that step. “YHWH, the God who goes before you, will fight for you, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness, where you have seen how YHWH your God carried you, AS A MAN CARRIES HIS SON, all the way that you went until you came to this place.’ (I couldn’t even write that last without tearing up.) Give me His ways, not my ways. Make it the deepest desire of my heart.

Matt Adams
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