Run to the High Place

 Genesis 19:17 “As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”

Allow me to offer some advice derived from words that Angels gave to Lot as he was encouraged to leave Sodom and Gommorah.   First of all, there is a great deal that one can say about the actions that lead to the downfall of Lot.  His first mistake was moving toward Sodom.  His second was when he moved into Sodom.  And finally, even after being taken captive in the Sodom War and later rescued (by Abraham), Lot still returned to Sodom and was later found sitting in the City gate of a place consumed with sin and all sorts of sexual immorality.  

However for the purpose of this writing, it is not my attention to focus on the sin of the city, the judgment of God to rain fire and brimstone, or the fact that Lot lingered when the Angel told him to leave immediately. The main goal of this writing is to provide encouragement by examining the four recommendations that the Angels gave to Lot and his family.

One -Run for your Life: Which means that even though God has set you apart and delivered you, and although God has brought you out of your trouble times, and despite the fact that it was God’s grace and mercy that has held you by the hand and yanked you up out of some situations, you need to keep running.  Running symbolizes drive and determination. It represents a will to go forward in God.  So it’s not enough to not look back.  One must continue to run in order to reach one’s destiny.  Songwriters have a way of making the point crystal clear.  One song writer put it in this fashion:  “Lord I’m running trying to make 100,  99 and a half won’t do.” 

In order to reach your destiny in life, we must continue to run.  Run to overcome obstacles;  run to rise above haters; run to shake the devil off; run to get all that God has for your life.  Hebrews 12:1 says “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”

Two- Don’t look Back:  Don’t look back to bondage, defeat, despair, hopelessness, and sin.  It’s alright to remember where God has brought you from and how He has blessed you over the years.  In fact Psalms 103:2 says   “Bless the Lord Oh my soul and forget not all his benefits.”  However, we should not look back to the things and situations from which God has delivered us. 

I often wonder what caused Lot’s wife to look back. Maybe she missed her old neighborhood, or perhaps she heard the cries and screams of her village and experienced a moment of weakness as she grew weary and simply turned around.  Whatever the reason, it halted the plan of God in her life and caused her to perish by turning into a pillar of salt.  But notice that even as she perished after looking back, the rest of the family kept moving.  

Just because friends and family experience a moment of weakness and go back to a life of sin, don’t you look back.  Keep pressing and moving on.  Do not allow others to make you look back.  In Luke 9:62 Jesus said “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.  Hence let us remember the words of the Apostle Paul who said, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching for those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.  Don’t look back.

Three: Don’t stop in the Plain  The Hebrew word for plain is mishor which means a level place; Lot and his family could not afford to stop because it would hinder their progress and halt their overall destiny.  It is easy to get comfortable in the plains.  There is safety in the level place.  When you are out of danger, it seems appropriate to rest in the plain.  Perhaps after all of your toil and sacrifice, you may feel as though it is appropriate to stop and enjoy your labor.  

However, my advice is to not stop in the plain.  Sometimes we quit or stop serving for various reasons.  When things are easy and convenient, we are tempted to stop because we feel as though we have arrived when we obtain the new house, marriage, degree or even promotion. And yet on the other hand, sometimes it’s disappointment and heartache that causes us to quit associated with enduring struggle, loss of a loved one or even being wounded in the House of God.   

But even in the midst of all of this.  The Lord wants us to keep running. Keep pushing. Keep pressing forward because now is not the time for quitting.  Don’t stop simply because things have gotten easy.  And don’t stop if things have gotten difficult. Don’t stop praying.  Don’t stop praising God.  Don’t stop believing in the promises of God.  Don’t stop fighting the good fight of faith.  Don’t stop I the plain.  But be steadfast unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know your labor is not in vain in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 15:58) 

Four: Flee to the High Place (Mountain)   God’s vision for Lot and his family was peace and safety in the High Place. The High Place was a place where righteousness abounds.  The High Place in God is a closer walk with God.  And a place of excellence where God brings out your best. It’s a place where we live above distractions.  At the high place, we walk by faith and not by sight.  God had a blessing waiting on Lot and his family that could only be found at the High Place.  It was as if the Angel was indirectly saying I will meet you at the High Place. The place of Destiny was the Mountain/High Place.  Indeed the High Place in our lives has a special distinction. 

The High Place is-  A Place of Separation- The Bible says “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, says the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 6:17

·          A Place that you can’t come down from-  Nehemiah went up to rebuild the walls in Jerusalem.  The enemy did everything he could to get him to come down.  But Nehemiah said, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, while I leave it and come down to you (Nehemiah 6:3)

·         A Place of Refreshing- Jesus said come unto me all those who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28)

·         A Place of Vision- We see things from a different perspective from the mountain top.  Things look different when we are in a high place.  The giants that looked so big in the valley don’t seem so tall from the High Place. 

So get to the High Place.  Come up!  That’s where the power is.  That’s where you will experience God’s glory.  We go to the High Place to be filled and refilled by God.  So run to the High Place to go higher in your service, higher in your commitment to God, and higher in your worship.  God has victory that is waiting on us when we go higher.  The prophet Habakkuk recognize this when he said, “The Lord God is my strength and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet and he will make me to walk upon mine high places.” (Habakkuk 3:19)  So run to the High Place because at the end of the day, it’s the only place of true safety for your soul.