“The LORD our God said to us in Horeb, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Turn and take your journey…Go in and take possession of the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring after them.’” Deut. 1:6-8 ESV
Early one morning. Spending time with the Lord. Finally a good night of sleep. Getting ready for the day. With God. My usual combo of prayer, praise, study, listening, writing, in no particular order. No agenda. Love will do that. Love will break free from programs and traditions. Love for Him. Letting Him lead. So breathlessly hungry for Him. Oh, to learn of Him. To be with Him. To commune with Him. To cry out to Him. Oh, to hear from Him! I love to hear from Him. Such a longing. So thirsty for Christ. Fill me, fill me, fill me with your Spirit, oh God! More of you. I want more of you! Sometimes He speaks. Sometimes He is silent. Always I know to measure what I hear against His Word. He only speaks in line with His Word. This day such a yearning to hear His voice. Then it came. In a single word.
Turn. I heard it again. Turn. I listened for more. Silence. Usually I think of repentance when I think of the word turn. But I didn’t sense necessarily this is what He wanted to tell me. Though it so often is. What was it then? Turn. Lord? Quiet. There was only one thing I could do if He wouldn’t say more. I did. I went to my computer and did a word search in the Bible. I looked and looked. Nothing moved me. I kept looking. Then I went to a different translation. Started with the New Testament. Backed up to the Old Testament. Then there it was. The word. The scripture I knew He had brought me to. I burst into tears. As though His Spirit had gripped my heart in His hands and would refuse to let go until I understood. God was speaking to my heart. And I sensed this message was not for me alone.
Turn. The Israelites had spent decades going from bondage in Egypt toward the promised land. Decades dwelling at a mountain when the whole journey should have taken 11 days. God used Moses to tell them it was time to turn. Away from where they had been. To at last leave it behind. To get to where the Lord wanted them to go. To what He had promised them. The promised land. They needed to turn away from where they had been so they could go to where God wanted them to go. They would never get to where He wanted them to be if they refused to turn and leave behind what they needed to let go. How familiar, and perhaps comfortable, that place must have become. It was time to turn and leave it behind. To move on. To follow the Lord. In obedience to Him. Is the Holy Spirit speaking to you now?