On Top of the Mountain
On Top of the Mountain
Thursday, February 1, 2018
Had I gone to college today I would have a career instead of a job. Had I invested in that business I’d be a wealthy person instead of living paycheck to paycheck. Instead of going on my third marriage, had I married my first love I know that today we would be together and living happily. More than likely this is how Moses felt. Perhaps he thought to himself that he could have done great things for the Israelites but as it stood, he was an old man living in a foreign land with nothing to show for himself.
Moses saw himself as a crusader who could or should do something to secure the freedom of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt, but something happened along the way. Moses was a Hebrew child who became a prince in Egypt. Moses lived in the palace; he was educated by the finest scholars and was trained by the most gifted and talented men. Moses however was a Jew and he was troubled by the injustices of slavery that his fellow Israelites had to endure. The more injustices he saw the more his desire to set his people free grew. One day Moses witnessed the beating of a Jewish slave by an Egyptian. Moses was so infuriated that he killed the abuser. Knowing he was in grave danger, he fled from Egypt.
Moses went from living in the palace to dwelling in the wilderness, he went from eating at the royal table to eating in the wilderness, he went from having the brightest future to having no future at all, and he went from abundant privileges to total misfortune. Moses was now an older man, he is in his eighties and it has been some forty years since he fled. Back in Egypt, his fellow Israelites were still living under the oppressive hand of the Egyptians. I can venture to guess that at this point, Moses had no intention of ever returning to Egypt, much less as a liberator.
God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” – Exodus 34:19 NIV
One day, as Moses was tending to his father in law’s sheep on the far side of the wilderness, he ventured up to Mount Horeb. There, the Lord appeared to Moses in a burning bush and said, “Take off your sandals you are standing in sacred space. Moses, I have seen what is happening to my people, I have heard their cries, and I am concerned for them. So, I am going to rescue them and I am sending you as my representative.” And as they say, the rest is history; the now eighty-year-old Moses, the one who could have, should have, was now back in business. Following God’s lead, he returned to Egypt to become the most historically celebrated liberator of the people of Israel.
Many of us look to our distant past and think that things would be different if we could have or should have… We have learned to live with the realization that the business, the relationship, or the ministry we hoped for is now in the past. True we did not kill anyone and go on the run; we simply made bad decisions, procrastinated, or wasted our time on worthless activities. Some of us ran while others stayed behind but the results are the same; that sense of what could have or should have been. I want you to know something, God still speaks, He still has a plan for your life, and He always finishes what He starts. Wallowing however in the valley of self-pity will not get you anywhere; you need to get up and go up to the mountain. You need to find that quiet, I am alone with God, sacred space. Then, you will begin to hear his voice and discover his renewed plans for your life.
Questions:
- Do you have any “could have, or should haves in your life? What might they be?
- Do you live with the sense that time has simply run out for you?
- Do you find that you have given up on your dreams?
- When was the last time you actually went on the mountain to stand on holy ground?
- How does it make you feel to know that God wants to renew his plan for your life?
Prayer
Heavenly Father, I am standing on the mountain, alone, in this sacred space, where it is just you and I. I am stripped of all hopes and dreams but you are the God with the perfect plan. Your plans have no date stamp, you are the same today, yesterday, and tomorrow, there is no expiration date when it comes to your promises, your faithfulness, and your goodness. My mistakes are numerous, but your glories are new each day. Restore me, renew me, and revive me Lord. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
