Afraid of Heights?
SERMON PREP: You? What? Afraid of heights?
YES!
“If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the world.”
Deuteronomy 28:1
Whoa. That’s a tall order there, Moses. Really? God will set us high above all the nations of the world? Sure. Uh-huh. And all we have to do is what? Keep all your commands?
Yeah, that’s not a problem.
Only it is a problem. It is a big problem. Through Moses, God promised the people of Israel a land of milk and honey. And don’t forget father Abram (Abraham). God promised him countless descendants that outnumber the stars in the sky or the grains of sand along a beach in New Jersey…or somewhere like that.
Abraham. Moses. The people of Israel. Us. The common denominator? Fear. “The no way is THIS gonna happen” mentality was prominent then, and it is here today. We live in a world where products and gizmos promise us better nails, skin, muscle strength and income if we buy into what we’ve all learned firsthand is a scheme. So, this? Been there, done that. There is no high life. We will not be set high above all the nations of the world. And we will not be set high above all the nations of the world because we can’t keep all God’s commands 24/7.
So, what do we make of this speech Moses gives the people? Forget it?
Never. If we forget this, we should chuck it all. No, don’t forget it. Aspire toward it. You know the times fear has crippled you. You know the times fear has shut you down, or shut you or someone else out of a blessing.
Don’t cheat yourself. Don’t ignore what you can do for someone else. You may be afraid of heights, but you know what I know: the higher place just takes getting used to.
See you up there.
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