8/17/26

Have you ever been away from home for an extended period of time? If you have, then you know the excitement and anticipation you have when you are finally heading home to see your family again. Then as you are heading home, your plane is put in a holding pattern. It circles the airport multiple times; you look out the window and know there are people down there at the airport excited to see you, but you just keep circling. Your excitement builds, but the person next to you seems to be at peace; they seem not to care how long you circle the airport.

Imagine the feeling aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln as they prepare to head home after being at sea for over 250 days. Yet as they head home, there will be some, who are apprehensive about it. There will be nervousness. Things have changed since they left home and will not be the same. Children have grown and might not recognize them; friends have moved. People have died. Life goes on while you are away, busy.

It is hard to imagine, but some people are not anxious to get home even when home is the perfect place.

Deuteronomy 2:2-3 NASB95 “And the LORD spoke to me, saying, ‘You have circled this mountain long enough. Now turn north.

The people of Israel loved to complain. They were promised and now would receive the promised land, and yet they kept saying oh that we would've just died in Egypt as slaves. How silly is that? Yet this is what they said on multiple occasions. In our text, they seem to be satisfied just traveling around the wilderness, circling Mount Seir. They know that the promised land awaits them. Finally, God intervenes and says This is enough; it is time to go home. Turn to the north; it is time to go home.

Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, said in 1:23-24 NASB95: But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.

I want to be with Christ, but I know I need to be here.

So what do we do?

Do we go in excitement or stay in excitement? Do we continue to circle, or do we land?

The answer is found in following the Lord.

Circle as long as the Lord circles, head north when the Lord heads north, stay when the Lord stays, and land when the Lord lands. Because when you are with the Lord, there will be excitement. The unknown can be intimidating, but when you are with the one who already knows the unknown, then the unknown is known. Even though you might have battles along the way. When you are with the Lord, you will get to the promised land.

Love Bro. Scott