In every walk of faith, there comes a time when comfort - or at least routine - becomes the enemy of progress. That’s the situation facing the Jewish people as D’varim opens.
As it is written:
“Adonai spoke to us in Horev. He said, ‘You have lived long enough by this mountain. Turn, get moving and go to the hill country of the Emori and all the places near there in the ‘Arevah, the hill country, the Sh’felah, the Negev and by the seashore - the land of the Kena’ani, and the L’vanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates River. I have set the land before you! Go in, and take possession of the land ADONAI swore to give to your ancestors Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya’akov, and their descendants after them.” - D’varim 1:6-8 (CJB/Stern)
There’s not much need to pound this one to a fine dust. No need for ionamin or some other nutritional supplement to grasp the meaning.
The principle for our own lives is clear. The Jewish people never liked living in the desert near Mount Sinai. They endlessly and foolishly wished to return to Egypt. The complained about their situation. But they were also stuck where they were. To make progress… and Adonai wished for them forward progress, not a return to Egypt, the time came for them to finally get up off their lazy rears and start moving toward something.
In the same way even today, we often fail to appreciate what Adonai has provided for us and if we’re not complaining, as the saying goes, we’re not living.
But even discomfort can become a kind of comfort. As the saying goes, “better to battle the devil you know than the one who is unknown to you.”
That’s where the Israelites were; stuck in the comfort of what’s familiar, even when what’s familiar isn’t comfortable. Just as Adonai called his people to arise and move on, so too is He willing today to place the same call on our lives.
What mountains do you need to flee and leave behind to get closer yo your promised land?
