A Journey Begins...

Can you imagine taking 40 years to prepare for a hike into the mountains? How absurd! All you need is a sense of origin and destination, to dress appropriately, fill a pack with necessary items based on the length of your hike and there’s not much more to it. After you reach the trail head, you may need to check in at a ranger station, buy a map, peruse that map so you have an overview of what to expect and off you go! I’ve gone on hundreds of hikes and, admittedly, there’s a little more to it than that, but not much. Now, to trek into a place like Mount Everest would be a different matter entirely. For that hike, you’d need a completely different set of equipment. You’d need a complete entry and exit plan, a guide and, depending on your level of skill and experience, you may even need to get some training before you even attempt any of this.

In the book of Exodus, the story unfolds of the Israelite's deliverance from Egypt and their journey to the Promised Land. It’s an epic struggle that spans 40 years and finally concludes in the second chapter of Joshua, just before they cross the River Jordan. This was their destination. In order to understand their origin, we would need to turn back further (Genesis 15), when God made a covenant with Abraham and, thus, set him on the trail he was meant to travel.

                In their hearts, humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.

--  Proverbs 16:9 (NIV)

Referring to my original question, “Can you imagine taking 40 years to prepare for a hike...” one might ask the relevance of the question. After all, the Israelis were hiking for 40 years, they weren’t preparing for it. True! However, this hike was only preparing them for one of far greater significance – one that we, as believers, must all make.

I do not argue and am continually astounded by the historical accuracy of the Bible (after all, it is God’s inerrant Life Plan), so in making the following statement, I’m simply saying (from human wisdom) that history repeats itself, conclusions are drawn, patterns are recognized, etc., etc.

The wondering and waywardness in the desert by the Israelites should be looked upon as a metaphor of our own lives before coming to know Christ. If, for the Israelites, it was simply getting to the Promised Land, camping at the river may have been enough. But God called them to inhabit the land and receive His best for their lives. At this point, some of you may be using the Promised Land as a metaphor for Heaven (which is, after all, our final destination). I’ll discuss that at a later date, but I believe it's a metaphor of true spirituality – our personal relationship with God.

That leaves the River Jordan.   

From Those Holy Fields (pg 72), we find this description of the river:

                Emerging from the Sea of Galilee at a probable depression of six hundred feet below the level of the Mediterranean, it rushes along a narrow fissure of sixty miles in length; but doubling and winding as it goes, its actual course is two hundred miles. . . . No river famous in history is so unproductive and useless.

 Three things come to mind when I read this. First, it nearly mirrors the journey just made by the people encamped at her bank, in regard to wandering. Second, it reflects God’s recorded choices to use those who, by the world’s standard, are deemed unproductive and useless. Third, it's the river that Christ, Himself, was baptized in by John. At the time of this writing, I have to evidence to support this, but based on the accuracy and foretold details of Biblical prophecies, it wouldn't surprise me to learn that He was baptized in the very place the Israelites crossed originally.

To me (and I stress me), the River Jordan epitomizes the barrier between our worldly lives and our Christian lives. Here, on its banks, we lay our past at Jesus’ feet. We acknowledge that we are insufficient by ourselves; that we cannot save ourselves; that nothing we have done or can do, apart from God’s grace, can or will save us. Our sins, our regrets, our pain...we leave it all on the bank, at Jesus’ feet.

Another description of the River Jordan comes from Picturesque Palestine, vol. 1 (pgs. 165-65):

[C]lose to the river’s bank we descend fifty-five feet into a dense thicket of tamarisk, silver poplar, willows, terabit, and many other trees strange to European eyes, with a dense and impenetrable undergrowth of reed and all sorts of aquatic brushwood. This is perforated in all directions by the runs of wild boars, which literally swarm here, while the branches are vocal with myriads of birds—nightingales, bulbuls, and especially turtle-doves—which meet here and find abundant food in the herbage of the trefoil, astragals, and other characteristic plants of the higher plain. In ancient times beasts more formidable than the wild boar had their lair in these coverts, and when driven out by the periodical swellings of Jordan the lion and the leopard sought their prey among the flocks of the villagers in the country above. The leopard still lingers in these thickets, and an observant traveler cannot explore far without coming on its traces, especially on the east bank. But the lion, though not extinct in the times of the Crusades, has long been exterminated from the region west of the Euphrates. 

 It doesn’t sound like an easy river to cross, and it’s not. But please don’t mistake the metaphor. Crossing the Jordan isn’t simply putting away the old self. Once we invite Christ into our lives, Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here! (NIV)

Crossing the river symbolizes ridding ourselves of ritual, of keeping score with the hope that our good deeds outweigh the bad ones in the end. It is learning to develop a personal relationship with God in order to discover His purpose for our lives and, thus, enabling us to allow Christ Jesus to live through us (the Promised Land).  If history has taught us anything, it is that anything can be done "in the name of Christ" (the Crusades come to mind here, but there are many positive examples, too).  That doesn’t mean we’re always doing what God wants us to. It is for this reason that I’ve set out on a journey of my own.

And it starts with seeking God...first.

 This is my personal journey and I invite you to come along because, like the parable of the bags of gold (Matthew 25:14-38), it would be wrong for me to bury this treasure and not share or invest it. I’m a human being, which means that although I was created in the Image of God, I live in a fallen world and am therefore prone to making mistakes. That’s perfectly okay as long as I learn from them. I implore you, please leave any feedback you feel led to contribute, but I’ll warn you now that, after seeking the opinions of trusted, faithful and godly men, God has made it clear to me that I need to seek Him, alone (I’ll explain that in my next post). I simply want to share what He says so that you may be blessed by it also. More importantly, I pray that my journey will inspire you to start one of your own!

So c’mon...let’s get our feet wet!