The Sojourn

At the foot of Sinai, the whole nation stood and watched the mountain burn. They had seen the sea open. They knew the Lord Yahweh was real. And when He came down, they told Moses to go up for them and bring back whatever God said, because they could not bear to hear the voice themselves.

So Moses climbed and communed with God, while the rest of the nation waited at the bottom, terrified by the clouds above. Almost no one went up.

We can talk about God's nearness. We have sat through the teaching, and can explain what a relationship with Him is supposed to look like. And still, many of us are standing where the Israelites stood, at a distance that over time has become comfortable.

The Sojourn is an invitation to finally make the climb.

Some of the most significant moments in Scripture began at the doorway of forty days. Noah waited out the rain. Moses spent forty days on the mountain. Elijah walked on the strength of one meal. Jesus went into the wilderness and came out in the power of the Spirit. The apostles waited together in an upper room.

None of them remained the same afterward. That is what these forty days are for.

Over forty days, The Sojourn moves through four ascents, each anchored to a physical place in Scripture. Each moment leads us to another corridor in the heart of God as we lay down old garments and take up a new way of living.

Bethel, where Jacob slept on a stone and woke to find God had been there the whole time.

Horeb, where Elijah collapsed and met the Lord.

Shiloh, where Samuel heard his name in the night and did not yet know the voice.

Gethsemane, the olive press, where the Son of God counted the cost and then stood up and walked out to meet the men who had come for Him.

Each day carries a passage to read, a teaching, and something to do with it. Alongside the reading there is one challenge: walk with Him daily, and make it personal.

This is the sojourn. Are you ready to take the climb?