144 of 365 - Turn North

You have circled this mountain long enough; now turn north. Deuteronomy 2:3
 
Back in the Old Testament, after years of wandering, God told the Israelites, ”You have circled this mountain long enough; now turn north.” It was time to enter the Promised Land.
 
Sin is looming with devastating effects. Sometimes the way we are going isn’t getting us to where we need to be. Jesus reads from the scroll of Isaiah… the promise of good news, liberty, freedom. The year of the Lord’s favor.
 
Maybe we have circled the cultural mountain long enough…doing what the world says instead of what God says. We’ve circled the mountain long enough…of striving, shame, bondage, pain, heartbreak. We are impoverished, broken-hearted, enslaved, blinded, and oppressed by it. Perhaps today is the day we will accept Jesus’s offer of freedom and new direction, and say, “no more!”.
 
Perhaps today is the day we will turn our eyes, heads, hearts, entire posture NORTH...in God’s direction. Because Jesus came to proclaim liberty; TO. SET. US. FREE.
 
We have the scrolls – God’s Word – to open, read, and teach us. Directions to guide us North instead of back into the mountain-circling pulls of culture and temptations from the devil.

God, help us to rely and depend on You alone. Let us desire the things that bring You glory above all other things that end in death instead of life. You alone are enough. Your Word is enough. Help us keep from circling the mountain of self and sin and instead turn north. Eyes up and on YOU.
 
Questions: What things in your life are distractions and diversions from your focus on God? Are you ready to stop circling the same figurative mountain and head north? How can you make substantive changes in this direction today?