Throughout the old testament, we find story after story of people migrating to new places.
Abraham leaves Egypt.
Moses goes into Egypt, and then takes the Israelites out of Egypt.
Joseph is carried away by slave traders into a new kingdom.
David leaves Jerusalem.
The wise men leave their flocks.
But when we're reading about people leaving in the Bible, we're reading about how things were in those days. People lived in tribes, and tribes are constantly on the move. Change of geography was essentially the norm, because in order to survive, people had to go where the food, water, and shelter was.
But, there was also another kind of nomadic movement occurring.
Underneath the current of moving wherever the instinct of survival took them, they were seeking something different, something hopeful, and something invisible but so believable that it motivated them to keep moving and moving in the hopes of finding this new country.
One of the pitfalls of being a nomadic people was, they were vulnerable - both in the sense of lacking basic needs for survival, but also in the sense of being look down on by surrounding nations who were building their own kingdoms and trying to get tribes to surrender to their power.
And so, we see countless stories of these nomads being tyrranized by empires, turned into slaves, and rescued.
But, migrating for these people wasn't just about geography and finding what they needed to survive. If that was the case, they could have just picked an empire to be a part of, enculturated themselves, and made it work.
Instead, there were stories that were handed down through the generations of a God who called people out of what they thought was normal, and promised them a land flowing with milk and honey.
Today, we would call it heaven or heaven on earth or paradise or Utopia.
The main characters of the bible believed that there was a God calling them to search for this so called land, but there was only one problem. They couldn't see it, and most of them never saw it.
Which raises a question: Why would someone leave everything they know to search for a land they will never see?
For the people who embarked on this nomadic journey into the unknown, what they couldn't see was more inspiring than what they knew.
Do words like hope and ambition and aspiration pop into your mind when you think of that?
Have you ever left a job not knowing where you were going, but believing that what was in store was better than what you were currently experiencing?
All these stories of people who left their homes, their possessions, their cultures, and their gods, were built on a faith in something that couldn't be seen. They didn't know where they were going, but had heard stories about this fabled land flowing with milk and honey.
It was an adventure, a journey, a step into the desolate wilderness to try to see what the ancestors were talking so much about.
And what they encountered was a God who was completely different than the gods they'd grown up with. This God didn't demand sacrifices, but wanted to bless. This God didn't want to destroy, but wanted to restore. This God didn't stand lifeless as a statue, but engaged the senses through sound and sight.
But all of this leaving what was comfortable and moving into what was unfamiliar wasn't just a story about a geographical move.
It's a story about an inward realization, an inward journey into the unknown realms of God.
It's about completely unlearning everything that once seemed so familiar, and learning how to live by a different set of rules.
It looks like leaving everything that's comfortable and moving into something that's unfamiliar. But it also looks like deciding to take a journey of the heart and mind, and entering into a new territory of thinking and living.
Either way, it takes hope in order to have faith that the unknown is better than what is known.
Do you have this constant underlying tug-of-war in your soul telling you that there's something that you can't quite see, or grasp, or sink your teeth in to, that is better than what you're currently experiencing?
What is it?
Do we believe that the voice that's been calling us for years and years about a land that is better, a land that's flowing with milk and honey, is valid?
For Abraham, Moses, Jacob, and so many others, they believed in what they never got to see. But the point is, they journeyed in search of it. They were convinced that what they couldn't see was better and more adventurous and more life-giving than what had become monotonously familiar.
Abraham leaves Egypt.
Moses goes into Egypt, and then takes the Israelites out of Egypt.
Joseph is carried away by slave traders into a new kingdom.
David leaves Jerusalem.
The wise men leave their flocks.
But when we're reading about people leaving in the Bible, we're reading about how things were in those days. People lived in tribes, and tribes are constantly on the move. Change of geography was essentially the norm, because in order to survive, people had to go where the food, water, and shelter was.
But, there was also another kind of nomadic movement occurring.
Underneath the current of moving wherever the instinct of survival took them, they were seeking something different, something hopeful, and something invisible but so believable that it motivated them to keep moving and moving in the hopes of finding this new country.
One of the pitfalls of being a nomadic people was, they were vulnerable - both in the sense of lacking basic needs for survival, but also in the sense of being look down on by surrounding nations who were building their own kingdoms and trying to get tribes to surrender to their power.
And so, we see countless stories of these nomads being tyrranized by empires, turned into slaves, and rescued.
But, migrating for these people wasn't just about geography and finding what they needed to survive. If that was the case, they could have just picked an empire to be a part of, enculturated themselves, and made it work.
Instead, there were stories that were handed down through the generations of a God who called people out of what they thought was normal, and promised them a land flowing with milk and honey.
Today, we would call it heaven or heaven on earth or paradise or Utopia.
The main characters of the bible believed that there was a God calling them to search for this so called land, but there was only one problem. They couldn't see it, and most of them never saw it.
Which raises a question: Why would someone leave everything they know to search for a land they will never see?
For the people who embarked on this nomadic journey into the unknown, what they couldn't see was more inspiring than what they knew.
Do words like hope and ambition and aspiration pop into your mind when you think of that?
Have you ever left a job not knowing where you were going, but believing that what was in store was better than what you were currently experiencing?
All these stories of people who left their homes, their possessions, their cultures, and their gods, were built on a faith in something that couldn't be seen. They didn't know where they were going, but had heard stories about this fabled land flowing with milk and honey.
It was an adventure, a journey, a step into the desolate wilderness to try to see what the ancestors were talking so much about.
And what they encountered was a God who was completely different than the gods they'd grown up with. This God didn't demand sacrifices, but wanted to bless. This God didn't want to destroy, but wanted to restore. This God didn't stand lifeless as a statue, but engaged the senses through sound and sight.
But all of this leaving what was comfortable and moving into what was unfamiliar wasn't just a story about a geographical move.
It's a story about an inward realization, an inward journey into the unknown realms of God.
It's about completely unlearning everything that once seemed so familiar, and learning how to live by a different set of rules.
It looks like leaving everything that's comfortable and moving into something that's unfamiliar. But it also looks like deciding to take a journey of the heart and mind, and entering into a new territory of thinking and living.
Either way, it takes hope in order to have faith that the unknown is better than what is known.
Do you have this constant underlying tug-of-war in your soul telling you that there's something that you can't quite see, or grasp, or sink your teeth in to, that is better than what you're currently experiencing?
What is it?
Do we believe that the voice that's been calling us for years and years about a land that is better, a land that's flowing with milk and honey, is valid?
For Abraham, Moses, Jacob, and so many others, they believed in what they never got to see. But the point is, they journeyed in search of it. They were convinced that what they couldn't see was better and more adventurous and more life-giving than what had become monotonously familiar.
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