If you have ever been on holiday or business and you fly into Heathrow/Gatwick chances are you end up in a holding pattern over Kent whilst they clear a slot for you. This can be a frustrating time, when you know all y are doing, is going around in circles – you’re still flying, everything looks good, is working properly, but you no know progress is being made.
Deuteronomy 2:1-9: Then we turned back and set out toward the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea, as the Lord had directed me. For a long time we made our way around the hill country of Seir. 2 Then the Lord said to me, 3 “You have made your way around this hill country long enough; now turn north. 4 Give the people these orders: ‘You are about to pass through the territory of your relatives the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, but be very careful. 5 Do not provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, not even enough to put your foot on. I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his own. 6 You are to pay them in silver for the food you eat and the water you drink.’” 7 The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything. 8 So we went on past our relatives the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We turned from the Arabah road, which comes up from Elath and Ezion Geber, and traveled along the desert road of Moab.
9 Then the Lord said to me, “Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any part of their land. I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as a possession.”
Here we see the children of Israel near the end of their wanderings (cf. Dt. 2:14). Deuteronomy means “second law”, showing that Moses is reiterating the standards of God to a new generation who have only known a wandering existence.
There are five things I think we can learn from this passage for us today.
1. A Long Time
Verse 1: “For a long time….”
How did the children of God find themselves wandering around for a long time?
At this point in time the Israelites had been wandering around in the Wilderness for most of the forty years of their journey. A Journey that should have only taken eleven days had wound up lasting 40 years (Dt. 1:2).
They are not progressing! They’re just moving about, shuffling. What has stopped them?
• Failure to obey God (Dt.1: 26-40).
The first generation had the promise, left Egypt, were on their way, but failed to believe and grumbled instead.
We all want to find our place in the body of Christ – hands,
feet, eyes, but there is no room for the appendix which feeds off of everyone else and grumbles.
• Failure of Presumption (Dt. 1: 37 – 45, esp. 41-42)
Sometimes we miss out on what God has for us because of presumption! They still had the promise in their hearts, but before the promise could come about, there had to be repentance.
“Well we’re going to do it anyway!” attitude.
If we return to our air plane waiting to land we would not want to be in a plane where the captain says: “We have been told by air traffic control that the airport is congested, but I’m a good pilot and I reckon I can get us down by threading my way through the other planes and jumping the queue!”
Presumption is summed up in phrases like: “God understands, he knows my struggles, so he’ll bless me anyway”. Yes, He does, but He also calls us to repentance.
Repentance draws Him, arrogance repels Him.
Psalm 51: 11: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”
If you are trying to do the right thing with the wrong heart, you make the right thing the wrong thing!
So due to their failures the people find themselves in God’s holding pattern. They have learnt the hard way that they can only move when God says. It took them a generation to learn this!
2. A Wrong Place
Dt. 2:1: “…we made our way around the hill country of Seir.”
The consequence of their failures was that they found themselves in the wrong place. The Israelites had been walking around on territory the Lord had given to the descendants of Esau, Jacob’s brother.
Too many Christians spend the life dwelling in the territory that someone else owns. We run around looking for the next best thing, model or move. We watch Christian TV to top up on sermons, to hear God. We run around looking for a definitive Word. But we’re still in the wrong place.
When we become frustrated we look for another church, saying; “God has led me to go to Pastor So and So’s church.” Now Pastors will let you go, but you will still find yourself in the wrong place, because for us it has nothing to do with geography, but our heart before God.
One of the things shepherds do is try to guide the church to the right place (Ps. 23: 2).
I lived for a time in Cumbria. I had a farmer friend there, also called Keith, and one day he says to me, “Come help me feed the sheep.” So off we went with these bags of feed. We get to an empty field. No sheep. We get these bags of feed and cut them, open. No sheep. I look at Keith and say something like, “Have you got the wrong field?” He smiles and then lets out a loud, Cumbrian cry, that was unintelligible to me. But sheep start appearing, jumping over one another, through gaps in the wall, some of them over the wall. All over the place. Within 30 seconds we’re surrounded, being buffeted by sheep.
Then Keith says to me; “the grass where they want to eat is not good enough for them, it is not nutritious enough. So every day I call them for this supplement feed, to fields I know where there’s good grass, but by tomorrow they will have wandered to the wrong place!”
My friends trust your shepherds and your leaders! As a church we are in a process of defining “our place”, your uniqueness in the area. We don’t have to copy others. This will be a church of the “right place.”
3. A Clear Voice
Dt.2:2: “Then the LORD said to me”
Interestingly we don’t red of the people seeking God for His command, they’re happy to wander.
You see through the failure of disobedience and presumption they have learned not to move before God says so. Often God will not speak until we have fulfilled the last things He said. In this account we see the last thing He said was to go back towards the Red Sea (Dt.2:1). And then they waited. Life was busy, things were going on, but there is still the dissatisfaction of knowing they’re in the wrong place.
Bible College – I was offered a place in 1987, but went to RSA and got married. Ten years later felt God saying you’re wasting the calling, so after much seeking, applied again. When I was interviewed by Dr Schatzman and Malcolm Dyer, explaining why we had not come before, Dr Schatzman said, “Last orders still stand!”
My friends, if God is silent last orders still stand. The clear voice of God is not something we hear every day! So it is important to keep doing what you’re doing, until the clear voice is heard.
Quote: John Newton, the writer of the most popular hymn in history, "Amazing Grace" said: "… if two angels in heaven were given assignments by God at the same time, one of them to go and rule over the greatest nation on earth and the other to go sweep the streets of the dirtiest village, each angel would be completely indifferent as to which one got which assignment. It simply wouldn’t matter to them. Why? Because the real joy lies in being obedient to God. For a Christ follower, the important thing isn’t what God has us doing; the important thing is that we’re doing what God wants us to do." (Lee Strobel, God’s Outrageous Claims, 93)
4. A Clear Direction
Dt. 2:3b-4a: “….now turn north. Give the people these orders…”
The first thing we notice is that God shares their discontentment in the phrase: “long enough” (v.3). Isn’t it great when God says, “enough is enough!” It is in those words that know relief is coming!
But there are two things we need to see about when God speaks to us, as a church and individuals:
• It is Obvious What God is Saying!“….now turn north” (3b).
North is north! It is a constant. It cannot say, “well today I want to be south!”. So therefore the people know where it is too! Guided by the stars, they knew which way to go. For us, we’d use a compass. The compass has be point to magnetic north, it is in agreement with where north is. It can be thrown off by strong magnetic forces near it – distractions!
Our compass is the Word for it always points to God’s north, the highest ideal for our lives!
The point is this, Moses knew and the people knew which way was north!
When God speaks, breaks through that silence, and speaks into our heart, we know the direction we’re to go! We don’t debate it, we know it!
• It Is Obvious What We’re To Do!“Give the people these orders…”(4b).
What orders? In short how to behave upon the journey! But there is something really interesting here:
God deliberately speaks against a settling mentality.
“Pass through…” (4) and “…for I will not give you any part of their land.”(5) – Speaking of the land promised to Esau’s descendants.
“…for I will not give you any part of their land.” (9) “…for I will not give you possession of any land belonging to the Ammonites…” (19). Speaking of the land belonging to the Moabites and Ammonites.
Keep going! This will be for Lot’s descendants.
The people would have settled in the hill country given the opportunity. They would also settle where they saw something good in the place they were passing through! God speaks against their natural tendency.
We cannot fully obey Him without dying to our desires – otherwise we will find ourselves in the wrong place – again!
Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
5. A Fresh Opportunity to Fail!
When they come to King Sihon’s land in Heshbron they are told:
“Begin to take possession of it and engage him in battle….” (24b) and “Now begin to conquer and possess his land.” (31)
Remember, the last battle they were in they lost (1:42-44). So what do they do? They try to use the new model of “passing though” (2:26-30).
Why? Because when you have failed in an area – even if there is repentance and a new direction from the Lord – that fear of failing again can be all consuming!
That is better than arrogance! It is better to double check!
What is really frustrating in air travel is to be on your way and hear the Pilot say: “Ladies and Gentlemen we are experiencing technical difficulties and are returning to the airport”. This has happened to us once. In those minutes when you are flying back you’re hoping that the problem is not one where gravity will win! It turned out to be minor and we were on our way on about 20 minutes.
Point is this: I would rather have had an overly cautious pilot, than one who was cavalier!
But once you know God’s will, don’t stop until you get there!!
Wrapping it up
I am convinced God has great plans for this church and for each of you as people. But sometimes the frustration of doing the same old stuff can be overwhelming. We can be tempted to move on, do things our way, settle where we’re not called to do.
If I were to say to you there is just one thing that God is doing in a sentence it is this:
You are living in the on the false stop between 2:3 and 2:4. You know there is a new impetus, a freshness coming an sense in the atmosphere that things are changing, you’re just waiting to find out how!
But don’t worry church – it has been long enough. It will not be long now! Not long!
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