Published

The grace for leaving

OpenAI Text-to-Speech

Exodus 33 shows us something that is easy to miss. God had already promised Israel victory. He said He would drive out the Canaanites, the Hittites, all their enemies. The fight was never in question. But before they could see any of that, they had to leave Sinai. That was the hard part. God’s word was sure, but the people still had to pack up their tents, turn their backs on the mountain where they had failed, and move toward the unknown. This is where most of us wrestle. We start thinking about the giants waiting in the land, about the “what ifs,” the “I’m not ready,” the “how will I handle that?” But the truth is, God never asked them to defeat the giants on their own. He said He will take care of that. The real test was not in fighting; it was in leaving.

Leaving takes faith. Leaving means stepping out when you cannot see how it will work out. Leaving means trusting that the same God who brought you this far has already gone ahead of you. Mary understood that in her own way. Early that Sunday morning she went to the tomb. Her heart was broken. She had watched them seal it with a heavy stone. She didn’t know how she would move it, but she went anyway. She did not let the stone stop her from keeping her promise to the Lord. And when she got there, the stone was already rolled away. See, Mary worried about something God had already handled. The real work was not in rolling the stone, it was in going to the tomb.

That is what God keeps teaching His people: the miracle meets us in motion. The power shows up on the path. You will never see the victory if you refuse to move. You will never see the stone rolled away if you stay home. It is not the giants that keep us from the promise, it’s the staying. The stone cannot block the miracle, it is our unwillingness to go. So when God says, “Go up from here,” don’t wait for perfect clarity. Don’t wait for the fear to disappear. Just go. Because the same God who fought for Israel and rolled away the stone for Mary is still clearing the way for you.

But here’s the truth: leaving is not easy. You do not just walk away from comfort, routine, or familiarity without something anchoring you in God. So how do we actually leave? There are three things that help you leave well, three things that turn obedience into encounter.

  1. A Tent of Meeting

Before Moses ever led the people out, he had a tent of meeting, a place where he talked with God face to face, where he listened, where he waited. It was his secret place. It was his lifeline. That’s where leaving begins, not with movement, but with meeting. If you want the courage to step out, you have to first step in, into that place of presence. Moses would go into the tent, meet with God, and then come out to lead. But there was one man who never left the tent , Joshua. Scripture says, “Joshua son of Nun did not depart from the tent.” He stayed. He lingered. He had no position yet, no platform yet, but he had presence. Joshua had what Moses desired, constant proximity. Moses had responsibilities that pulled him away; Joshua had hunger that kept him there. Joshua reminds us of Mary, sitting at the feet of Jesus, choosing presence over pressure. If you are going to leave where you are, you need a tent of meeting, a regular rhythm of being with God, talking with Him, listening for Him. Because every outward movement begins with an inward encounter. There’s a reason why Saul disobeyed God. He never had that kind of tent-of-meeting experience. He was a man who led without lingering, a king who moved without meeting. And because of that, he feared people more than he feared God. But when you live from that tent, when you meet with God in the quiet, something happens inside you. Your fear of man dies there. Your need for validation fades there. The voices around you grow quiet because the voice of God becomes enough. The tent of meeting is where obedience is born. It is where courage is shaped. It is where leaving becomes possible not because you stop being afraid, but because you have been with Someone greater than your fear.

  1. When Your Hunger for God Surpasses Your Need for Familiarity

Something happens when you spend time in that tent, your hunger for God starts to outweigh your desire for what’s comfortable. That is what happened to Moses. He did not want to go anywhere without God. He said, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.” Moses knew that it is not worth leaving if God is not in it. He was basically saying, “Lord, I don’t just want You in the tent. I want You in my Mondays, my Tuesdays, my Wednesdays… I want You in my everyday assignments. If You want me to lead these people, You’ve got to go with me.” That’s what real hunger sounds like. It refuses to separate devotion from duty. It’s the cry of a heart that says, “God, I don’t just want to meet You in worship; I want to walk with You in work.” And that kind of hunger makes leaving possible, because the presence you found in the tent now fuels your steps outside it.

  1. A Heart for Souls

Finally, what gives meaning to the leaving is why you go. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.” Jesus left heaven because of love. He left the glory, the perfection, the safety of heaven to seek and save the lost. Everywhere He went, every town, every healing, every miracle, it was all driven by compassion. Scripture says, “He was moved with compassion.” That compassion made Him go from place to place, touching the sick, lifting the broken, restoring the lost. And when He came to Jerusalem, He wept. Not because He was weak, but because His heart broke for people who did not know what really mattered. That is the kind of heart that makes you go. If your leaving is just about personal promotion or improvement, it will not last. But if your leaving is about people, about souls, it will carry you through every challenge. Love gives legs to your obedience.

So yes, the real work that we do is in the leaving. It takes faith. It takes hunger. It takes love. But when you have a regular tent of meeting with the Lord, where your hunger for God surpasses your need for comfort, and where your heart is conditioned to beat for souls, you will find the strength to leave. Because you will realize God’s already gone before you, just like He did for Israel. The giants are already defeated. The stone is already rolled away. All that is left… is for you to go. Because the real work, the life-changing, world-shifting, destiny-fulfilling work, is still in the going.

Reflection

  • Do I have a regular “tent of meeting” with God?
  • What does that space look like in my life right now and what might it look like if I lingered longer, like Joshua did?
  • What voices compete with God’s voice in my decision-making?
  • Are there fears, expectations, or people whose approval I have valued more than God’s direction?
  • Has my hunger for God grown cold or casual?
  • What would it look like for me to want His presence in my Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays; not just in church or devotion time?
  • Does my heart still break for what breaks God’s heart?
  • When was the last time compassion moved me to act, to pray, or to go?
  • What would it look like for me to go today?
  • What practical step of faith can I take this week that says, “I’m leaving comfort and moving with grace”?

Responses

loading...