Advancing to the hill country

Deuteronomy 1:6b-7a You have stayed long enough at this mountain.  Break camp and advance into the hill country…

There comes a time when it is more beneficial to move out of my comfort zone and into new territory.  When I have stayed long enough at my current level of spiritual activity and am ready for a new challenge, then it is time for me to make advances into a new area.  Because this is usually not what I want to do, God usually has to tell me to do this, either through His Word, or through the message of circumstances, just as He used Moses to tell the Israelites they had stayed long enough at that mountain, the place of safety and security, and move on to the place of greater vulnerability, the hill country.  I have seen this happen several notable times in my life and as I reflect on those experiences I can see God’s gentle hand leading me into each new territory.  Sometimes it was just His voice to my spirit (such as His call to me to missions work and later to retire to care for Mom); sometimes it was His direction through circumstances (such as my move from war-torn Lebanon to Jordan and again to marriage to a widower); sometimes through other people (such as the advice of the friend to go to library school).  Each time it meant my moving into a new place, breaking up my personal “camp” and advancing to the next area.  Those were the places of the promises of God, not the safe mountain.